Adventures with JoJo
by homesickthug
Summary: A 19 year old has completed college and has found herself a job at the Dade Crime Lab. She is welcomed as part of the team, and forms a strong bond with Eric Delko. Not 100% cannon, sorry if she comes across as a "parasitic Mary Sue" and its not my best writing by any means. I lead a depressing life and fanfiction is my outlet... if u have an issue w/ that then dont read
1. First Case

AN: The writing isnt that good :/

"Eric, Mr. Wolfe, Calleigh?" Horatio said, to the three CSI's in the breakroom. They sat at a table, Eric eating Chinese, Ryan eating pizza, and Calleigh sipping on coffee. They met eyes with Horatio then turned their attention to a young girl standing next to him.

She had tight black cornrows, that contrasted entirely with her skin tone, making her appear more pale than she probably was. Her eyes gave off an empty gray color, and she presented a slim, embarrassed smile. She stood about a foot shorter than Horatio, leaving her at about 5 foot, and she was probably a good 50 pounds less than him as well. She was probably the smallest person in the building, and the youngest. She couldn't be a day over 20.

She hid her hands uncomfortably under the sleeves of her black jacket, which reluctantly fell down to her knees. She wore black skinny jeans that could pass for business casual, and a grey V Neck beneath her black sweatshirt.

"This is JoJo, she's just transferred in from Atlanta."  
Eric gave a lopsided grin, Ryan an approving frown with his eyebrows raised, and Calleigh a soft smile of acceptance.

"JoJo, that's Eric, Ryan, and Calleigh," Horatio introduced.

"Hi," she said softly.

"JoJo recently finished a forensic internship in Atlanta and had graduated at the top of her class with a degree in Chemistry and Biology."  
Eric gave an approving nod, "how old are you?"

"Eric!" Calleigh said punching his arm, "that's rude."  
"No, no it's fine. I get it a lot. I'm 19."  
"You graduated college at 19?" Ryan asked.

"It's uh- complicated-," she stuttered.

"and not important," Horatio said cutting her off. "I have a double homicide on the border of Dade and Monroe that looks gang related and involves a child. I need all four of you on this."

Calleigh, Eric, and Ryan smiled.

"I'll uh, go get the car, there should be an extra kit in there," Ryan said smiling and walking out of the break room.

Horatio gave JoJo a soft smile, then looked to Eric and Calleigh, "she is not a police officer, she doesn't have a gun."  
Eric and Calleigh nodded in unison, to which Horatio turned back to JoJo, "These are the best CSI's in Miami so you'll have nothing to worry about," and again he turned to Eric and Calleigh, "Page me when you get back," he said smiling. He walked out of the room, giving JoJo a comforting pat on the shoulder.

"Monroe county is a long way, you think Ryan will be okay to drive?" Calleigh asked looking to Eric, thinking about Ryan's eye problems he's been having recently even though he swears there's nothing wrong.

"Calleigh, you're gonna end up on Alexx's table if you keep pestering him," he said smiling.

Calleigh rolled her eyes, then looked to JoJo, "men are useless, come on let's go."

JoJo smiled softly at her, then followed beside her while Eric followed to the Hummer.

Of course, with the 45 minute drive to Monroe County from Dade, JoJo was going to be harassed with a magnitude of questions.

She sat in the backseat next to Eric, while Ryan drove with Calleigh in the passenger.

"So uh, JoJo, you come down from Atlanta?" Ryan asked, his New England accent apparent.

She nodded, "came in a few weeks ago."  
"You don't sound like you're from Atlanta," Eric said.

She shook her head, "Miami native, just was in Atlanta for a while."

"Hablas espanol?" Eric asked.

She nodded again, "Es mi primera lengua"

Eric smiled, and Ryan went on to ask the question that was obviously the elephant in the room.

"So, how did you go through everything and finishing at 19?"  
"It's complicated."  
"Nah you must be smart," Eric said approvingly.

She shook her head, "no it's a long story."

"So, why did you leave Miami?" Calleigh asked.

She smiled uncomfortably, "long story, but I was 10."  
"Where'd you use to stay?" Ryan asked.

"Little Haiti."  
The three older CSI's raised their eyebrows.

"And where do you stay now?" Calleigh asked concerned.

Again, she smiled uncomfortably, "Little Haiti."  
Eric sensed that, "alright, enough with the 20 questions."

They drove in comfortable silence to the crime scene. It took place literally 200 yards from the Monroe county line on route 1, which was surrounded by nothing but mangroves and the ocean. Two bodies lay next to each other in the middle of the road. One was a young boy, maybe 7 years old. He was of cuban descent and had long black hair that ran down to his shoulders. There was a bullet wound in between both eyes- he was executed.

The other body belonged to that of a young women. She was white, with long brown hair thrown into a messy bun. Along her neck there was a deep slit.

Blood pooled around both the bodies, the deep red blending with the newly painted black street.

"Where's Alexx?" Eric asked, handing JoJo a spare kit.

She looked up at him questionably, when Calleigh returned the answer, "She should be here any minute. She's finishing something up at another scene in Kendall."  
"Guys?!" Ryan yelled out, looking into the mangroves, about 100 feet south of the body.

JoJo, Eric, and Calleigh looked at eachother, then found themselves walking to Ryan.

"Oh my god," Calleigh said with a confused look, bending down next to Ryan. Eric peered over her, and JoJo stood on her tippy toes in order to see.

This was only something you'd see in South Florida, JoJo thought. Hidden in the mangroves was an alligator that had been shot twice in the back, with the corpse of a very young toddler clenched in his jaw.

JoJo widened her eyes at the scene, wondering how exactly this fit in.

"I'll call animal control once Alexx gets here so they can take, uh, this back to the lab. I can process this part," Ryan said.

Calleigh nodded, "Okay we'll sweep around the bodies."  
They separated, and walked around the scene looking for anything. So far there really wasn't much. The killer took any weapons, unless they had been chucked in the ocean. Horatio was probably going to end up having Eric dive in the surrounding waters. Calleigh found one bullet casing, that probably belonged to the bullet that executed the young boy, and two others near the young women.

Eric photographed the blood pools and the following spatter, but JoJo found something interesting.

"I got fake crack," she said, detangling herself from the mangroves.

"How do you know it's fake?" Ryan asked skeptical and amused.

Her eyebrows shot up in embarrassment and Ryan went on, "Relax JoJo. So if we got fake crack, this could just be a drug buy gone wrong?"  
"What, that'd be like 300 dollars worth of dope?" Eric asked gesturing for JoJo to bring him the bag.

She nodded, "if this was real, depending on its cut, it would be about 300 give or take some change."

"Who kills over 300 dollars worth of fake dope?" Ryan asked walking over to them.

"I've seen people kill over a lot less," she said. Her eyes widened, realizing what she had just said, realizing she had known these people for an hour and she's probably already said more than she ever wanted too.

"Yea that's true," Calleigh validated. "So how do you make fake crack?"

All eyes turned to JoJo and she stuttered, "uhh.. baking soda and an oral numbing agent really."  
"Alright, drug buy gone wrong. Does the alligator have anything to do with this?" Ryan asked.

"Maybe the alligator came up on him and grabbed the kid," Eric added.  
"But why kill the gator? I mean, it would help hide evidence," Calleigh said.

"Maybe the killer didn't shoot the gator?" JoJo threw out.

"Hey guys," Alexx said ducking under the crime scene tape and moving to the group. "Oh! You must be JoJo! I'm Alexx, medical examiner," she introduced smiling at JoJo.

JoJo smiled in return and Alexx went on to the case, "so a double homicide?"

"Maybe, maybe a quadruple," Eric said.

"A quadruple?" Alexx asked looking at him like he was insane.

"two bodies over here, and in the mangroves over there we have an alligator that was shot while snacking on a toddler," Calleigh updated.

"The blood is too fresh for this to not be related," Ryan called out crouching down near the alligators blood pool.

Alexx sighed, her thick sunglasses hiding her 'I'm so done with this city' look. "Have you guys called animal control?" she asked.

"No, we were waiting for you," Calleigh said, bending down, seeing something on the young boys hand.

"JoJo come here," she said, her mind in thought. JoJo did as instructed and crouched down next to Calleigh.

"What's this look like to you?" she asked pointing at some powdered trace on the boy's hand.

"It's not the fake crack," she said quietly. "It looks like make up."

Calleigh looked at JoJo then turned to Eric, "these casings are from a revolver, go back to the lab and see if we can get prints."

Both JoJo and Eric nodded, following orders.

Eric drove back with JoJo sitting awkwardly in the passenger seat, her feet not exactly touching the floor.

Eric grinned at her, "you don't need to be so quiet."

She shrugged, "I'm not the best at talking."  
"You're helpful though."  
She shrugged again and spoke with no confidence, "I mean, if you find a bag of something that could pass for drugs next to a murder scene, there has to be something _wrong_ with the drugs for it to be just left there."

Eric just nodded, smiling slightly.

"Echa de menos Atlanta?" _You miss Atlanta?_

JoJo shrugged, "Me perdi Miami mas" _I missed Miami more._

It was silent for a moment and then JoJo went on to ask in English: "What about you? Yall ask me all kinds of questions."  
Eric glanced at her then back to the road, "Been with the lab a long time. I'm a Miami native and I stay in Hialeah."

"Where'd you go to school?"  
"U of M, you?"  
"Georgia State."

"And you graduated when you were..-" he pried, waiting for her to finish his sentence. She shook her head smiling at his diligence and gave in, "18."

"Damn, that's when I graduated high school."  
"I-Its not because I'm smart."

At that Eric quirked an eyebrow, "you graduated college when everyone else graduated high school and you're saying you're not smart?"  
She sighed, "Its uh complicated. I was taken into foster care when I was 10 and because of where the system put me, I ended up in high school courses when I was 11, which I got credit for. Its not like I was 'smart' it was just how the system was."

Eric nodded, "I understand why you're so reserved. You should keep your chin up though, it'll make people take you more seriously."  
She smiled, "thanks."  
"I get it, but I can tell, H's got your back. He's got everyone's back, but I think he really got yours."  
JoJo smiled uncomfortably, and the rest of the drive to the crime lab was spent in comfortable silence.

* * *

"JoJo," Horatio said approaching her while she stood in front of a computer. She was easily startled and jumped with a gasp of breath before letting out a soft smile.

"Uh hey, I'm running the prints now from the bullet casings. All the prints match to the same person, so now I just need AFIS to tell us who they belong too."

Horatio smiled at her, patted her on the shoulder(to which she slightly flinched), and said proudly, "good work, page me when you get the results."

Next on H's list he found himself down in autopsy standing over three bodies.

"What have we got Alexx?" he asked.

"Well, I haven't had a chance to cut open the gator but I can tell you about the other three vics. Eric ran the prints through AFIS and missing persons, and the only thing that popped up was for the women. Her name is Jamie Lynn. She's 23 and was in AFIS for a marijuana possession charge."

"Cause of Death?"  
"He sliced her jugular and she bled out. I sent the skin under her fingernails up to DNA. GSR was also positive on her right hand. No sign of sexual assault.

Now, the older boy didn't come up in missing persons but I'd say he's about 7 years old. Poor baby, you shouldn't be on my table," she said running her fingers through his hair. "COD is gunshot wound to the head-"  
"Alexx," Horatio interrupted circling with his index finger above a black bruise over the young boys left eye.

"It explains the makeup Calleigh found on his hand. I'd say his eye is in the early stages of bruising, makeup was used to cover it up. This little one was executed werent you sweetie?" she said looking at him sadly and then continuing to the toddler. "The toddler is male probably 2 years old. Baby boy died from the injuries of the gator. The bite marks penetrated both lungs and he suffocated. I sent everything else up to tox."

Horatio nodded, "good work Alex," he said walking out and heading up to DNA.

"Hey Horatio," Valera said smiling at him. "The DNA under Jamie Lynns fingernails came back to a Pedro Garcia. He's a member of the Latin Kings. Oh, and I ran into JoJo-"

Horatio raised his eyebrows, and Valera continued, "she's a nice girl. The fingerprints from the bullet casings came back and she said they match Pedro Garcia."  
Horatio smiled, "alright thank you."  
Next he found Eric and JoJo standing together in tox.

"JoJo, Eric," Horatio said smiling at them.

"H, nothing interesting in the vics systems. JoJo was right about the fake crack, all it is is baking soda and a numbing oral reagent," Eric said.

"And I bumped into Ms Valera and she told me about the DNA match to Pedro Garcia. He is also a match to the fingerprints. He's a member of the Latin Kings," JoJo said.

H smiled, "very good, any thoughts?" he said looking to JoJo.

"M-m-me?" She stuttered embarrassed, looking between the two. "I guess Jamie and the two John Doe boys were trying to sell the drugs to Garcia, but might have been unaware of his gang affiliation, and were killed over it."  
Horatio smiled in approval, "very good, I'm going to go meet with Calleigh and Ryan about the gun, and then I want you two to come grab Garcia with me and go to interrogation."  
JoJo looked around nervous, but nodded her head in understanding.

When Horatio walked out Eric was the first to speak: "Lo que os digo en mantener la cabeza en alto hmm..?" _What I tell you about keeping your chin up hmm...?_ Eric asked her, placing his finger under her chin and smiling. She didn't flinch at his touch, and smiled back nervously.

Horatio found himself in firearms with Calleigh and Ryan. "Calleigh?" he asked, expecting her to give her results.

"Horatio, hey. The striation marks came to a match in AFIS to gun reported missing-"  
"Which we found," Ryan interrupted holding up the gun through a plastic evidence bag with a smug smile on his face. "It was found in an alley in Little Havana and was taken to the police precinct. And we ran it for prints."  
"And it came back to Pedro Garcia?"

Both Calleigh and Ryan nodded.

"Thank you Calleigh, Mr Wolfe." And with that Horatio left to fetch JoJo and Eric.

* * *

"Pedro Garcia Miami PD! Open up!" Horatio yelled, his gun drawn with Eric beside them as they stood in the hallway of a small apartment building on SW 6th St. JoJo hid herself on the wall beside where Eric stood hugging herself self consciously.

A young girl opened the door, her eyes dark brown with question.

"Hola?" the young girl asked.

"Tu habla english?" Eric asked her.

She shook her head.  
"Es su casa papa?" _Is your dad home?_ Horatio asked

"Papi!" the little girl yelled running back into the room.

"Miami police" Eric said easing himself into the room right behind Horatio, JoJo refusing to leave the wall.

"Ah the crackers have arrived!" Pedro Garcia yelled holding up a rifle.

"Sir put the gun down now!" Eric yelled.

"Ese! Por que eres un traidor?" _Ese, why are you a traitor?_ he yelled.

"You're the traitor brother, put down your weapon."

Garcia started laughing, "send me to jail if you want. You're only helping me," he said throwing down his gun. Two uniformed officers came in, cuffed him, read him his rights, and took him outside.

Horatio took hold of the little girl and the four of them, H, the little girl, Eric and JoJo, walked out to the Hummer and back to the lab.

* * *

JoJo found herself sighing heavily in the locker room. Looking at her phone she realized it'd been 48 hours since this case started. It didn't feel at all like 2 days had passed, and she wasn't sure she'd drank that much coffee since she was in college. She laid her tired head on her locker, looking to her phone seeing it was 10 pm and the next bus comes in about 20 minutes.

"Tough first case?"

She jumped and turned around to see Ryan fumbling through his locker.

"Oh hey, just long and uh tired."  
Ryan smiled, "yea. Hey, we're glad to have you on the team."

She returned the smile, her cheeks flushing a light red, "thanks."  
"I'll see you tomorrow alright?" he said closing his locker, smiling and turning on his toe.

"Okay," she called out quietly.

She threw her backpack on her shoulders and ventured out of the crime lab to wait for route 87 to the Palmetto train station. The air was chilled to about 60 degrees, which she enjoyed. She lit up a cigarette, savoring the methanol taste and the calming feeling that came, and walked to the bus stop. Her headphones were in and she tapped her foot softly to the smooth beat of an unreleased 2Pac song.

 _Catchin dealers comin out they cars (will they survive?)_

 _(Two semi-automatic nines, them ni**az died)_

 _(Plus nobody in the hood cries, it's like they celebrate_

 _to death and wish they could die)_

"You need a ride?" Eric asked smiling, rolling up in his black toyota, and calling out through the half open passenger window.

JoJo smiled nervously and bit her lip, "Eric don't worry about, I got a weekly bus pass for a reason."

He reached over and opened the passenger door, "you're exhausted and I'll get you home quicker."

She smiled and got into the car, taking in his warm scent.

"What street do you live on?" Eric asked.

"Uh 54th and North Miami ct."  
Eric smiled and started driving, "you need a new neighborhood."  
She shrugged, "it's my home."

It was silent for a moment before Eric spoke, "I know this might get old, but if you ever need anything don't be afraid to ask," he said.

"Thanks," she whispered.

"You live alone?" he asked.

She nodded, "yea, I've always done better like that."  
Eric understood, "I feel that."  
Within a few minutes they were outside her apartment. A man and women were yelling at eachother in Haitian Creole, and Eric looked sadly down at JoJo. She was small, so the first question he wondered was if she was physically able to protect herself.

The next thing he wondered was if she was okay, like actually okay. He'd seen the emptiness in her eyes, the way she fidgets and jumps when someone touches her, her lack of self confidence and how insecure she was. From the bit he knew about her being in foster care, he figured it all stemmed from somewhere.

He sighed and she smiled to him, "thanks Eric."  
"It's no problem," he said with a lopsided grin, "I'll see you tomorrow alright? Be safe."

"Buenas noches" She got out of the car and he waved her goodbye, but waited until she was in her apartment to finally leave.

He felt a wave of sadness when he breathed in the bitter air and let out an empty sigh.

JoJo was special.


	2. Chin Up

It's only been about a few months, but the Miami CSI's accept JoJo as one of their own. She was a peculiar girl, and everyone seemed to take a large amount of protection over her. Underneath her iron shield was a very funny and sarcastic girl. And once she was comfortable, she wasn't afraid to show it.

Tonight, she'd been invited out for drinks with Calleigh, Eric, and Ryan. Horatio had other plans.

They sat in a booth together in the far side of a small bar off Flagler. Eric brought back from the bar a pitcher of beer, three glasses, and a Diet Coke for JoJo. She didn't drink, which the three older CSI's around her found odd, especially with the line of work they did. How JoJo found a way to just chill out without alcohol was beyond them.

"So you smoke but you don't drink?" Ryan asked laughing softly at whatever logic followed that.

"...smoke what? And I'm 19?" she asked, going wide eyed.

Everyone laughed, entirely forgetting her young age and she smiled softly. "Nicotine calms down, alcohol fucks me up, and not in a good way."

Eric grinned, sitting next to JoJo, while Ryan sat next to Calleigh, "we all got something to make our lives easier."

They all drank and talked peacefully, cracking jokes at one another, and JoJo felt somewhat normal for once in her life. Especially because of her young age, she never had many friends around because no one wanted to spend time with someone fifteen years younger. So being accepted by the team made her bounce with a bit more confidence than she did when she first came to Miami. She took Eric's advice and kept her chin up.

After a few hours they found themselves telling each other goodnight and separating to their own paths home.

"You want a ride?" Eric asked.

JoJo smiled at him, "you can't keep giving me rides, I don't have gas money."

Eric shrugged, "I'm really not going that far out of my way."  
JoJo sighed getting into his car with a smile, "thanks."

It took about 10 minutes to get to her apartment complex while they jammed to the smooth jazz of Boney James on the way.

"Thanks a lot Eric," she said smiling at him when they pulled up to her home.

"Seriously JoJo, don't worry about it. I'll see you tomorrow."  
"You too," she said softly standing outside and peeking her head through the car door before closing it.

Eric always waited for her to get inside before pulling off. Tonight while she was walking to her apartment she was stopped by a man, about 5'8". He was a dark skinned black man, with hardly any hair and hard eyes. From where Eric could see he looked to be about 20 years old.

"I told you not bother me," JoJo whispered, keeping her head down while the man blocked her path.

"You should return my calls," he said, his voice annoyed and his hands on his hips.

"I guess I didn't know your number because your phone is always off," she snapped bitterly.

He squinted his eyes, "that's not fair."  
She returned a death glare, "you know what's not fucking fair? Relying on a 17 year old to take care of you."  
"I never asked you to take care of me," he spat back.

"Right," she said smiling sarcastically and shaking her head, "because I was just going to leave you outside when you would purposely try to come over after the busses stopped running."

He put his hands on her shoulders and started shaking her. She froze, scared, her hands in fists but too afraid to move. That's when Eric had had enough and jumped out of the car.

"Get your fucking hands off of her," he said walking over to the scene, his hand on his gun ready to draw if he didn't let her go.

"Oh you call one of your cop friends on me huh?" the man spat.

"Let her go alright," Eric said walking to them, his right hand not leaving his gun and his left hand up in a calming gesture.

"Michael let me go," she said, struggling under his bruising grip.

Michael gave an angry glare and pushed her to the ground, her head hardly missing the pavement. He shook his head in anger, "this isn't over," he yelled, jumping back, spitting on the ground next to her, and walking down 56th street.

"You okay?" Eric asked bending down to help her stand up.

"Yea," she said brushing off her knees and smiling at him softly.

Eric looked around the dark street corner. The buildings had bars on every window, along with graffiti while different murals painted the empty houses.

Eric shook his head, "look, let me stay with you for the night, make sure you're okay," he said.

"Eric really-," she began but was cut off.

"Just in case he comes back."  
She sighed, nodded and smiled up at him, "okay."

Her apartment was small. Once you entered you were in the living room, to the left there was a small kitchen, and adjacent to the kitchen there was a door that lead to the bedroom.

"You want something to drink?" she asked walking to the kitchen. Eric stood there awkwardly and she looked at him and smiled, "you can sit you know."

Eric sat on the used couch. He couldn't believe how put together she had everything. She was still technically a teenager yet she had everything fit. She had a small TV in the living room that stood on a small bookshelf and a guitar in a stand to the right.

A cat laid on the coffee table asleep.

"Here," JoJo said handing Eric a cup of coffee and sitting on the couch next to him.

"Who was that?" Eric asked sipping at the coffee.

"Ex. I don't really have a good track record."

Eric was about to speak but JoJo interrupted him, delivering his thought, "yea I know, it's because I don't keep my chin up," she said smiling and rubbing the cat's head softly.

"He ever come here before?"  
JoJo shook his head, "he actually lives in Atlanta. I don't know how he found the money to come down here since he doesn't have a job."  
"How old is he?"  
"About 23 I think. Something like that."  
Eric's eyes went wide, "he's 23 and doesn't have a job?"  
She nodded, "yea he owes me a shit ton of money too, but I kind of gave up on that."

Eric sighed, "Tiene que dejar que la gente te pase por encima," _You need to stop letting people walk all over you_ he said.

She nodded, "I know." It was quiet for a moment, but then she spoke. "Since you're not going anywhere you wanna watch a movie?"

Eric smiled, "sure."  
She turned on the TV and flipped through the channels until they ended up settling on some random comedy neither were really watching.

JoJo found her eyes starting to droop and she ended up leaning her head on Eric's shoulder. Eric smiled at her, out of everyone on the team her and Eric had grown the closest. She trusted him for some reason that she wasn't really sure of. When Eric was around, she felt safe, and that was something she never really felt before.

Eric had seen the real her, Eric had told her to keep her chin up and keep going, Eric had confidence in her since day one.

They ended up falling asleep, Eric laying down and cradling her head on his chest. He laced their hands together and held her protectively. He vowed to never let anyone harm her, no matter what it took.

* * *

The next morning both JoJo and Eric woke up to the sound of a single gunshot from down the hall.

"Stay here and call for back up," Eric said looking at her and grabbing his gun. "Don't leave your apartment."  
He held his gun raised and began to identify himself as he slowly side stepped out of the apartment.

JoJo picked up Eric's phone and called for dispatch, which, to be frank, gave her more anxiety than the gunshot.

"uhh... I need backup at ZP apartments on the corner of 56th and North Miami Ct."  
A voice responded, "copy you're talking about Little Haiti?"  
"Yes."  
"Dispatch is on the way."  
JoJo walked slowly to the apartment door and opened it a crack. Two doors down on the outside hallway there laid Michaels body.

Eric was covered in blood, "did you call for backup?"

She nodded walking over to the body.

"Do you know who would do this?" Eric asked.

JoJo shook her head, "I don't... I don't... I wanted to stay anonymous, nobody here knows me."  
Within a few minutes back up was there followed by Horatio and Ryan.

Ryan glanced between Eric and JoJo and Horatio was the first to speak. "JoJo what happened?"

JoJo looked to Ryan, then to Horatio and finally to Eric, because she wasn't exactly sure.

Eric spoke as carefully as he could, unsure about what he should and should not say, "this man right here was shot, the moment I approached him he was still alive, I tried to put pressure on the wound. The shooter was nowhere to be found when I stepped outside," Eric stuttered then continued to speak, "its JoJo's ex."

Horatio nodded, "Here's what I want you to do, Mr. Wolfe you're going to process the scene and I'll take JoJo and Eric back to the lab. Alexx should be here soon."

Ryan nodded eyeing Eric and JoJo before continuing on to the crime scene.

Back at the lab JoJo and Eric sat in Horatio's office. "Stetler's going to want to talk to the both of you," Horatio said.

JoJo looked between the two men, "Stetler?"  
"Internal affairs," Eric said softly.

JoJo's confused look didn't budge until Horatio went on to explain, "your ex was killed a few feet outside your home, where you and uh... Eric were," he said, "So internal affairs needs to be called. So I recommend you tell me anything I need to know before he comes."  
Both Eric and Horatio looked at JoJo, "I- there was a gunshot, that's all I know and then he was dead. Shootings happen over there all the time. Remember that riot in '06? 12 dead in that hood in one week."  
Horatio nodded, "I understand the history of your neighborhood JoJo. But you're going to need to leave your home until this case is solved."  
JoJo nodded, "I understand."

"H," Eric began, "I drove her home last night, and her ex was there harassing her, and I told him to take a walk."  
Horatio was about to ask one more question when there was a knock on the window.

"Fuck," Eric mumbled.

Horatio gave a bitter smile and opened the door, "Perfect timing Rick."

The man walked in, his face twisted like a snake after a venomous attack. He grinned, he really loved his job.

"You must be JoJo," he said slyly.

Eric shot him a look, and then whispered quietly to JoJo, "Mantén tu barbilla en alto"

 _Keep your chin up._

"What did he just say?" Stetler demanded.

"Rick, this is Miami, maybe you should learn the language," Horatio answered respectfully.

Stetler glared at the three CSI's "I'll start with JoJo first Horatio, she's been on my list."  
JoJo's eyes went wide and she looked around, "wh-what?"  
"Just tell him what happened there's nothing to be afraid of," Horatio said while she stood up. JoJo followed him out and into a conference room down the hall.

"So you're the infamous JoJo?" he asked, a notepad ready to be written on even though there was a tape recording.

"E-e-excuse me?" She stuttered. Chin up JoJo, she could hear Eric saying.

"What, you're how old?"

"19," she said a little louder with a bit more confidence.

"Right 19 and a Miami native is that correct?"  
She nodded, and Stetler went on. "You were in foster care?"

She knew that was probably on her file somewhere, and as of right now Eric and Horatio were the only ones who knew. She nodded in response, "from when I was 10 until I was 18."

"Its interesting, you graduated college at 18."  
She nodded and he went on, "so what were you and Eric Delko doing last night?"  
She knew exactly what he was trying to say, but she was going to act stupid and wait for him to try to spell it out.

"We went for drinks last night-"  
"You're only 19," Stetler interrupted.

Now she understood Eric and Horatio's annoyance with the man, "do you know what cultural linguistics is?"

Stetler just looked at her and she went on, "it's when a culture takes a word and changes its meaning. The initial word 'drink' means to sip something liquid, but there is a cultural connotation associated with it in this culture, meaning that it includes an event with some sort of alcohol present. You're adding a connotation to my words and are taking it out of perspective to fit and interpret what you want to see. I drank soda."

Her eyes went wide, realizing what she'd just said, realizing that she basically talked down to a superior; internal affairs none the less.

Stetler sighed through a predatory smile, "so you and Eric Delko, huh?"  
As quiet and reserved as she came off, she could be quite snarky, "I don't drive, and use the metro to get to and from places. Eric offered to drive me home last night."  
"And he slept over?" Stetler quirked an eyebrow.

"I was heading to my apartment when I was stopped by my ex, he put his hands on me and Eric intervened. He offered to stay over in case he came back. That's it."  
"And the shooting-" Stetler began but was interrupted.

"Is unrelated. You know where it took place and you know it's one of the most dangerous hoods in Miami. The fact that Eric was over had nothing to do with the shooting by any means. My ex was there, and if he lingered around and died it has nothing to do with us. If you'd like I can pull up statistical analysis and show you the likelihood of crime in my neighborhood, but I think that's something you have access too."  
Damn, she was keeping her chin up alright, it was high up his ass and his eyes quivered with annoyance.

"Go," he said, "and get Delko."  
With that she stood up and left the room, which Eric entered, only giving her a glance.

"Delko!" Stetler said with enthusiasm. Eric just stared at him and Rick went on, "you stop hooking up with random girls on the back of buildings and decide to go for your barely legal coworker? What you're 33 right?"

If looks could kill, Stetler would be down in Autopsy right now.

"She was having a domestic disturbance, I told the man to leave her alone and offered to stay the night in case he were to return."

"And you slept on the couch and her in another room right?" Stetler said sarcastically, "Then woke up the next morning and killed the ex? Were you jealous?" That's when Horatio busted in, "We're done here."

Eric stood up, giving Stetler another look of death, then Stetler found the balls to speak once more, "Horatio, it's one thing to have a coworker's apartment complex become victim to a crime, it's another for it to happen while said 19 year old coworker had a coworker nearly twice her age defend her in a domestic disturbance, spend the night, and wake up to find the ex boyfriend dead."

"Eric lets go," Horatio said, and they walked to his office where JoJo was sitting.

Eric sat down next to her and Horatio went on to speak, "I need to know everything about your relationship," he said gesturing to Eric and JoJo, "and this past relationship with your ex."

H looked to JoJo, and she spoke. "I dated him when I was 17 I think he was 20. He just used me and I put up with it for 6 months and then I cut it off."  
"Used you how?" Eric asked.

JoJo took a breath, "He never had any money and refused to ever get a job so he used up half my paychecks. And, I'm not a very sexual person by any means and he would get really upset with me if I didn't go along with what he wanted. He never forced me into anything, but he made me feel terrible when I said no and would make me feel like shit until I consented. He kept telling me I was sick because I'm ace," she stopped speaking, realizing she'd said too much.

Eric's arm had somehow found its way around her shoulder, while her face laid in her hands, with her elbows balancing on her knees.

"I'm asexual," she said, "it just means I don't have any sexual desire or anything like that. And he would get really upset about it."

Eric continued rubbing her back, taking note of the bones poking through her shirt, and asked, "where'd you meet?"  
She sighed, "online. I had gone through a really hard time and I was just tryna not be alone anymore."

Horatio sighed, "Okay, now what about you two," he paused, "Off the record."  
Eric shook his head, "H, no it's not like that, not at all."  
Horatio waited for him to continue when JoJo interrupted, "he's involved with someone else, H. It's not, I don't know what it is, but it's not that."  
Horatio nodded, "alright. JoJo, we'll have Calleigh take you to grab some things you need until the case is over-"  
"You can stay with me," Eric said.

"And then you and Eric are gonna be on a different case. We'll see you in a bit JoJo, Eric hold on a second."  
JoJo looked at him, nodded, and left the two men.

"Eric, I need to know more in depth about you two, because Stetler is going to do anything he can to use this to bring us down."  
Eric nodded, "H you look at her. You see how empty her eyes are, how easily startled she is. You see where she lives, H, she's just a kid. Something happened to her before, and I need to make sure that she's safe, because she isn't okay."

Horatio nodded, "I know Eric, I have that same feeling too, and I see the way you connect with her. It might be good for her to stay with you until the case is over anyways."  
Eric nodded and smiled.

"Both of you just go home, get settled, and calm down, and I'll call you two in the morning."

Eric smiled back.

* * *

"Thanks for letting me stay here," JoJo said smiling, while she walked into the apartment. "And thanks for letting me bring my cat."  
Eric smiled, "it's not a problem, really. Make yourself at home. It's almost dinner, do you want something to eat?"  
JoJo shook her head, "no I'm okay,"  
Eric smiled, "okay. I'm probably just gonna order something later if you change your mind." He walked over to her, "the couch pulls out and yea, just make yourself at home."  
"Thanks again, you really didn't have to."  
"Nah don't be stupid," he said grinning. He sat down on the couch, and she sat next to him, her cat jumping into her lap.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

He looked at her with soft eyes, "I mean your ex just got killed, you must be feeling some kind of way."  
She sighed, "I don't know. I didn't really care about him like that. I mean, I cared, but I guess I became numb to it after getting tired of being used."  
Eric nodded, "I heard you kind of roasted Stetler."  
She shrugged, "I played his game. He wanted to twist my words, so I brought anthropology into it and made him look stupid."

Eric smiled and patted her on the back, "that's what he needs."  
He was silent for a second then spoke, "look, to be blunt, I know there's something going on with you outside of this case. I just- promise me one thing."  
She nodded and waited for him to continue, "promise me that you'll ask for help when you need it."

JoJo grinned, "Well... since you're being blunt, can I have one?"

Eric bursted out laughing and turned on the TV. Damn, JoJo had wit.

"You smoke?" he asked smiling, and flipping through the channels.

JoJo returned the smile, "No of course not," she said sarcastically.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, "it's okay, I couldn't tell you the last time they did a drug test."

"I mean, alcohol would fuck me up but weed helps me."

Eric understood but then went to ask a question completely out of left field. "You told H I was seeing someone, what gave you that impression."  
She shrugged watching the TV, "nothing really, just figured it would help the situation."  
Eric smiled, "thanks."

She felt herself mold into his embrace like they had the night before. Whatever this was, JoJo wasn't really sure herself, but whatever this was she enjoyed it. She felt herself beginning to doze off, and she curled herself up into Eric's side, her head on her chest, and he rubbed her bony back until he felt her breathing even and she fell asleep.

JoJo woke up about an hour later, still curled into Eric's side, his arm still around her, while he watched TV.

"You're up," Eric said with a smile when she started to come out of her dazed sleepy state.  
"Shit, I'm sorry," she said lifting her head up off him.

"Stop apologizing JoJo," he said with a smile. "You hungry?"

She shook her head, "nah really, I'm good."

He ran his hand over her braids, "alright, I'm going to go get a menu and order something."

She smiled at him while he got up. Damn, whatever was going on between the two of them, it wasn't sexual in any means, it wasn't romantic, it was just an intimate type of friendship that left her feeling safe and loved.

"I'll keep your secret if you keep mine?" Eric asked walking back into the living room, sitting down next to her, and putting his arm back around her.

She grinned, "my weed secret?"  
He nodded, "I just need to get this off my chest I guess, and you seem like the only person that'd really get it."

"You smoke too?" she asked smiling.

Eric laughed, "no, okay sometimes, but that's beside the point. I, I have a thing for someone."

JoJo quirked an eyebrow waiting for him to continue. "Ryan."

JoJo smiled, "I know."  
Eric's face broke into slight worry and a nervous smile, "you do?"  
She nodded, "it's not obvious, I just kind of got that vibe."

Eric sighed with relief and laughed, "you're something you know?" he said running his hand along her braids.

She shrugged, "I just call it how I see it."

That night they just hung out, laughing and watching movies. They ended up falling asleep together, and Eric carried her to his bed, wrapped his arms around her, and vowed to keep her safe.

* * *

It didn't really take long at all to crack the case. Michael had been trying to get into JoJo's house, but he ended up breaking into the person down the hall, who shot him in self defence, and the fled the scene in fear. JoJo really couldn't blame them, it's not like he'd ever hit her or anything, but she wouldn't put it past him.

Ever since this case, everyone had been a little bit more protective of JoJo than before, but mainly Eric and Horatio.

Eric insisted on driving her home from work every night 'just in case,' and half the time she was spending time at his place anyways.

Horatio dug deeper into her past, to see what could be expected, and let's just say, H dug up a big can of worms.


	3. Its Not What it Looks Like

"ERIC!" JoJo yelled trying to shake him awake and sliding her legs to her chest while she sat guarded on the bed next to a still very asleep Eric.

"Eric!" she yelled again, and he was finally starting to wake up.

"JoJo wha-?" he asked rubbing sleep from his eyes

"DON'T GET OUT OF BED THERE'S A FUCKING ALLIGATOR"

With that, Eric sat up slowly, scooting to the head of the bed next to JoJo. There stood an 8 foot alligator, starring the two of them down in the doorway of Eric's bedroom. There was no escape. Eric began reaching for his gun but JoJo stopped him.

"No don't shoot it!"

Eric frowned a confused look, "there's an alligator in the house."

"Yea its not his fault!"

Eric gave her one of those 'you gotta be kidding me' looks, and she went on, "they were here first."  
"Yea, but I've claimed my territory, and he isn't welcome."

She tugged on Eric's arm, "no don't hurt him. Just call Horatio or something."

Eric glanced to the gator, then to her and sighed. He reached over for his phone on the nightstand, and quickly brought his arm back to the bed when the alligator hissed at him.

"I'm not calling Horatio," Eric said thinking of the situation. Not so much the alligator but more so the fact that JoJo was in Eric's bed- of whom was shirtless at the moment- in Eric's apartment, and had obviously just woken up with him. They were trying to convince virtually everyone that they were not a thing, but the alligator seemed to have put them in quite a compromising situation.

"Who you gonna call gator boys?" she asked.

Eric grinned, "no," he rubbed his hand tiredly across his face, "I'll call Calleigh, she uh, wont ask questions."

JoJo had her arms locked tightly around Eric's right arm, ready to use him as a shield in case the gator decided to have an early breakfast.

Eric dialed the phone, "hey Cal, it's Eric, I have a situation at my place, can you bring animal control. And don't uh, mention anything to anyone."  
The ten minutes it took for Calleigh to get there felt like ten years, and neither JoJo nor Eric had budged from their rather incriminating position, nevermind there be an alligator ready to attack.

"Eric?" Calleigh called out and the alligator hissed.

"Cal there's a gator did you get animal control?" Eric yelled out as Calleigh walked a few yards behind the gator, but in the line of sight of the bedroom.

"Yea I uh-" she lost her train of thought when she saw JoJo practically latched on to Eric. The look of confusion on her face was priceless, and JoJo had to suppress a laugh, "Do you see my cat?" She asked.

Calleigh still had that confused look on her face, but turned to look around to the rest of the apartment, "yea it's in the kitchen sink."

"Cal," Eric said trying to pull her back to the situation at hand, "is animal control coming?"

Calleigh was still somewhat shocked at the situation, "yea they should be here uh, soon... um," she stopped, more interested in the two of them than the 8 foot reptile with jaws that bite down at a strength 3000 pounds.

JoJo refused to budge, and kept her gaze on the gator, while Eric rubbed his hand over his face again, "it's not what it looks like."  
"What do you mean it's not what it looks like it looks like there's a fucking alligator in here!" JoJo yelled playfully, trying to use some sense of humor to bring Calleigh back to the situation at hand.

Eric glanced at JoJo then to Calleigh, "No I-"  
Calleigh interrupted, placing her hands up, "it's not my business"

Behind her came two men walking barefoot into the apartment in blue jeans and white T-shirts that said 'animal control.'

"We got a gator?" one man asked walking to stand on Calleigh's left side while the other man stood to her right. The gator hissed at them.

"She's pretty!" said one of the men.

"How are you guys gonna-" Eric began to ask, but the men got right to work. One of the men threw a rag over the gators eyes and the other jumped onto its back and duct taped its jaws shut. It took a good two minutes.

The two men picked up the alligator, smiled, and before departing one had to throw in, "you love birds might wanna keep the door locked at night," he grinned at his rather unnecessary comment, then took the gator out and left a very confused Calleigh, and a very embarrassed JoJo and Eric.

" _This_ is not what it looks like" Eric said gesturing to him and JoJo, who'd just let Eric's arm out of her death grip.

"As I said before, it's not my business," she said, her country accent thick. "I will see you two at work... Don't forget to lock the door."

With that Calleigh left, and JoJo rolled back on her side, Eric putting his arms around her, because they had two more hours of sleep left.

But it really _isn't_ what it looks like.


	4. Scientific Method

JoJo practically lived in Eric's apartment now. Yes, they slept in the same bed, but no, for the upteenth time, it was not _sexual_ by any means. JoJo was happy that for once she found someone that accepted her asexuality and didn't try to tell her that she was broken or needed to see a doctor. Though, the fact that Eric Delko, ladies man Eric Delko, was actually a gay man may have helped a little.

It was a perfect combination of friendly intimacy.

JoJo had trouble sleeping sometimes even though it had gotten far better once she started sleeping(and here we go back to the drinking analogy) with Eric, sometimes sleep would just refuse to come, regardless of the amount of Ambien she took.

She liked laying there cuddle up against Eric though. She liked their system: her head on his chest, their fingers laced together, while he held her protectively.

She loved hearing his heartbeat, she loved breathing in his scent, she loved trying to match her breathing with the rising and falling of his chest. She loved feeling safe and whole.

She also loved hearing Eric talk in his sleep. Neither had many secrets between them, so what she heard was never that surprising.

But lately all Eric could seem to mumble about was Ryan- his hair, his eyes, his smile- were all talked about through the night. Lately JoJo heard Eric talking about him virtually every night. It was always something about Ryan, about how he wanted to hold him, about how he was sorry for how he treated him and that he wanted to start fresh.

But tonight Eric whispered something that even took JoJo by surprise. Granted, she wasn't necessarily surprised at the fact that Eric loved Ryan, it was the fact that he actually mumbled the words, "Ry I love you," that took her by surprise. She could see that Eric loved Ryan easily, she just never expected him to actually admit it.

This was more than just a lab crush- feeling like you love someone is one thing, but actually admitting it out loud made it real. Made it more than some stupid crush that wasn't of importance. Admitting it out loud made this more than just attraction, it made JoJo realize that this office crush was something that needed to either turn into something, or try to be stopped before it has a chance to break Eric's heart and his long needed friendship with Ryan.

JoJo smiled against Eric's warm skin, finding comfort in his smell and tried to let sleep overcome her, considering she only had a few more hours left before they had to get ready for work.

But her mind was elsewhere. First and foremost, she needed to ask a question. Did Ryan infact feel the same way about Eric?

Next she needed to do background research. After that formulate a hypothesis and then perform an experiment.

So let's just say, sleep wasn't coming tonight. No when the gears were churning and she was on a mission to make her best friend happy.

 **Step Two: Background Information**

So did Ryan swing both ways? JoJo wasn't sure. She was pretty comfortable with her sexuality, she swung all ways, except the sexual way. So she figured she could take him for drinks, get him a little buzzed, and confide in him about her sexuality in exchange for that of his own.

"So it's just you and me?" Ryan asked JoJo coming to their table after grabbing drinks from the bar.

She shrugged, "Eric had some stuff to take care of and you and I never really talk that much so I figured what the hell."  
Ryan sipped his beer, "you and Eric, huh?"

JoJo smiled, "no it's not like that, at all."  
Ryan raised his eyebrows, "with the amount of time you spend with him it'd be hard to know," he said grinning with a hint of sadness.

JoJo shook her head, "no, he's just, we're just-" she stuttered unsure how to explain their relationship, "it's not what your thinking,"  
Ryan smiled, "I know, I can tell by the way he looks at you- it's with protection not lust."

JoJo smiled, "you got someone in your life?"

Ryan gazed at her, eyes filled with trust, "can you keep a secret?"  
JoJo smiled, "always."

Ryan sighed, taking another sip of his beer, "I feel like I can trust you, and I guess with the amount of time you've spent with Eric, and I feel like I need to get this off my chest."  
JoJo smiled, encouraging him to continue.

He took a deep sigh, smiling like an idiot with his cheeks already starting to turn red, "Eric is something else," Ryan couldn't stop grinning, "I know we didn't really get along at first but... Damn, this is harder than I thought."

JoJo smiled back at him, "take your time."

"I-I, I love him." His eyes glowed with lust and embarrassment and JoJo just smiled at him.

"Your secret is safe with me fam."

 **Step 3: Experiment**

"JoJo I don't wanna go ice skating!" Eric complained while JoJo threw the outfit she was going to force him to wear on the bed. It wasn't anything too bad, just something that exposed just enough skin to make people's heads turn. On the bed lay a silk black long sleeve dress shirt, a white wife beater, and a pair of a pretty tight black jeans.

Yea, Ryan wasn't going to be able to take his eyes off him.

JoJo instructed Ryan to wear a long sleeve black sweater that complimented his build, along with tight black jeans just like what Eric was wearing. Yea, this was going to work.

"Too bad," JoJo responded with a grin, while she applied eyeliner and watched Eric get dressed. He wasn't going to get out of this.

"Button the shirt half way," she instructed eyeing him.

"JoJo what is all this?"  
She smiled, "just trust me alright?"

Eric rolled his eyes, "you're lucky I love you."  
JoJo smiled, yea, this plan is definitely going to work.

Convincing Ryan to come to the rink wasn't hard at all, the issue was practically having to drag Eric out. And no, it wasn't just because they had to drive all the way up to Ft. Lauderdale.

Granted, she told Eric that they could get up there using the tri-rail and then jump onto a Broward County bus, but Eric looked at her like she was crazy. No way in hell was he about to spend three hours on the bus just for some stupid skating rink.

At the rink, once they got their skates and paid for their tickets, they began to skate around the rink, looking for Ryan among the large crowed of us floridians that were freezing at the cool 40 degree rink.

"Is that Ryan?" Eric asked looking across the rink and eyeing JoJo.

JoJo smiled, "huh, I wonder what brought him here."  
Eric looked at her, knowing she was up to something but not wanting to comment on it.

"Let's go say hi," she said, grabbing his hand and dragging him across the rink.

"Ryan!" she yelled out with a smile, waving at him to get his attention.

"Oh hey, JoJo. Hey Eric," he said with a slight blush.

"Come on let's skate," she said with a smile, grabbing Ryan in his left hand while Eric was in her right.

She pulled out her phone and started taking selfies, Eric and Ryan both groaned.

"God JoJo," Ryan said smiling.

"You're not putting this online," Eric said glancing a smile at Ryan.

"Eric grab Ryan's hand, let's make a circle."

Again, both men groaned but complied, smiling.

They skated around in a circle, Ryan having to keep Eric steady. "You never skate Delko?" Ryan asked smiling.

Eric returned the grin, "I'm a Miami native. You come from up north, it's in your blood."  
"Yea but JoJo can skate, she's a Miami native too," Ryan said, a lust filled grin never leaving his face.

"Yea but she was in Atlanta. They have more rinks there."  
JoJo grinned at them. She was skating backwards because she had more experience, and she couldn't help but smile at them. They looked so right together, hand in hand, grin stretched ear to ear. The experiment was going as planned.

"Guys watch out!" JoJo yelled, her eyes widening when a group of kids collided with Eric and Ryan, knocking them to the floor, Eric on top of Ryan. JoJo was still on her feet, hovering over them.

It'd been a few beats, and Eric should have gotten up, but he was mesmerized with Ryan's eyes, with his grin and the easy rhythm of his breathing.

Eric had a lopsided smile, stared into Ryan's eyes, and took a chance. He couldn't stop smiling, he placed the back of his hand on the side of his cheek, tried to catch his breath, and ended up lacing his lips with Ryans. It was soft, and Eric was about to move away when Ryan smiled against his lips, and tangled his hands in Eric's soft hair.

The lust between them was radiating like the sun, melting the hearts of everyone in the ice rink. When they broke apart, they couldn't stop smiling, and JoJo couldn't either.

When Ryan met eye contact with JoJo, she smiled pretending to wipe fake tears with her sleeve.

"Alright love birds get up, before you get run over and this turns into a crime scene."  
Eric tried to get up but slipped a little landing back onto Ryan. They both started laughing, eyes filled with lust, grins larger than life. Everything went as planned.

 **Step 4: Conclusion**

Lets just say, JoJo slept on the couch that night.


	5. Psych Eval

AN: So I wasn't going to update this unless someone showed some interest, which one person did and to them I would like to say thank you.

The writing is pretty shitty sorry about that sometimes my writing is good other times its shit

I'll give a TW here for suicide and stuff.

Peace and Love~

* * *

It was the first time, in a long while that Horatio Caine was actually having a relatively good morning. For one, the 50 cent coffee off of that cheap diner on 87th was actually decent. Second, he hadn't been called out to a crime scene, but instead woke up at a relatively manageable hour and made his way to the crime lab undisturbed by any drama the Miami streets had to offer. And third, the temperature outside was chilled to 65 degrees, which was exactly how Horatio liked it.

But of course this lovely start had to end sooner or later; it was Rick Stetlers favorite pass time after all.

His voice cut like a knife through the crime lab as he screamed out for Horatio.

Horatio took a long sigh, trying to keep his cool like usual, and met Rick's tight gaze with a soft smile, "Yes Rick, what can I do for you?"

"I'm here about your teenage CSI," he said smugly

"You've already spoken to JoJo."  
Stetlers aggravation was clear, "and I need to speak with her again."

"What about?" Horatio asked, his head slightly tilted to the floor, his tone protective.

"Besides that she's 19 years old-"

Horatio cut him off, "we've already discussed her age Rick."

A wicked grin grew along his lips, "I came across some interesting information, she never underwent a psych eval."

Horatio's eyebrows knitted with confusion, "JoJo does not have a weapon and is therefore not required to undergo any sort of psychiatric evaluation."

Again, Stetler offered a smug grin, "she lied on her application. She check marked that she had no psychiatric past and had no known diagnosis."

Horatio looked at him, annoyed at the fact that Stetler would use such a sensitive subject to try and bring down the lab.

"Why do I have the feeling that you looking into JoJo's background has nothing to do with your genuine concern but more so your pent up anger about not being promoted to my position?"

Stetler fell silent for a moment, his face annoyed, "have that girl undergo a psych eval within the next 48 hours or she's fired."  
Horatio, still keeping his calm demeanor, had had enough, "Rick, regardless, we cannot discriminate against employees based upon both physical and mental disabilities."  
Rick response was deceitful, he seemed to have an answer for everything, "no, but we can discriminate against employees who lie on their government application."  
H shot him a look, "how do you that she lied?"  
Again, that devious smile, "I saw her at a crime scene this morning, ask her to roll up her sleeves when she gets back."  
With that Stetler disappeared, taking whatever excuse he had for morals with him

* * *

JoJo and Eric were currently in the DNA lab processing evidence from a recent murder suicide.

Eric had had a lovesick grin on his face ever since JoJo had paired him and Ryan up.

"Man, I still can't believe you did that," Eric said grinning down at a bloody piece of fabric found at the scene.

JoJo shrugged, "I followed the evidence."

Eric laughed softly, "only you could turn love into a scientific investigation."

Again, she shrugged with a relatively sad smile, "yea once you become bitter to the subject you replace emotions with logic."

Eric was quiet for a moment. He and JoJo had grown quite close ever since she joined the team. He had taken it upon him to protect the young CSI, especially after incident with her ex. JoJo was still so young and physically rather small. She had told Eric _over_ and _over_ again that she could take care of herself, like she had for the past 19 years, but Eric couldn't help but throw her under his protective wing.

"You know, I've been thinking you could move in with me. You're practically at my place every night anyways."

JoJo glanced to him, then back to the bloody piece of cotton, ""you sure? You don't have to."  
Eric elbowed her arm softly, "I know I don't have to, but I figured- oh hey H."

Eric and JoJo looked up softly at their supervisor, unaware of his presence but not really embarrassed about what he may have heard.

Horatio was smiling, with a glint of worry in his eyes, "JoJo, can I see you for a moment."

Eric looked at him worriedly.

"It's something that should take care of itself, I just need to talk to you for a moment," Horatio said to JoJo, then glancing at Eric.

JoJo nodded then looked to Eric, "you good with the evidence?"  
Eric nodded smiling with zero attempt to hide his concern, "yea."

He looked to Horatio then back to JoJo. Horatio gave a reassuring smile, "it's nothing. It should be okay."  
Eric nodded and JoJo followed H to his office.

"JoJo, off the record between you and I, have you ever had any past mental health issues?" Horatio asked, closing the door to his office and signaling for her to have a seat next to him.

Her eyes widened, "No, of course not," she said, her polite sarcasm evident.

Horatio just looked at her patiently while she shook her head confused, "why... is this important?"  
Horatio smiled, "its okay, its just between you and me."  
She thought for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly she should say, then spoke, "yea I uh do have a string of issues upstairs," she said, tapping her temple, trying to make this as light as possible.  
"Like?" Horatio wasn't demanding at all, his voice spoke with comfort and a hint of concern.

She sighed, "diagnosed with depression, anxiety, PTSD," she thought for a moment, "I think that's it."

Horatio nodded, "I'm only asking this because of internal affairs."  
She cocked her head to the side, "again?"  
"It seems they're trying to go after you for stating you didn't have a past mental health history on your application."

JoJo sighed, "I knew if I were honest I wouldn't get this job."  
"I understand completely, and you are right, with all the stigma surrounding it you probably wouldn't get this job."

"So what now?"  
"Well... you're going to need to undergo a psych evaluation."  
"What if I fail?"

Horatio smiled softly, "If they try something, for once Erica Sykes will finally be useful. Right now I need to send you to the downtown precinct for the evaluation. I'm going to have Eric drive you since it will take you a while on the metro to get there."

JoJo nodded offering a small smile hoping that this was going to be as painless as possible.

* * *

"I thought we don't keep secrets?" Eric asked softly glancing at her then back to the road. He wasn't upset or annoyed in the slightest, he was just worried.

JoJo sighed, "I really just wanted to keep this behind me."

"What do you mean?"

She gazed out the window, reluctant to tell the story, but knowing of all people Eric should be the one to know.

"My junior and senior year in high school, I was in this program, which also helped me with getting college credits. Atlanta's pretty segregated man, so most of the folks in this program were rich white republicans who didn't like me one bit. They already knew I was from the streets so I got labeled that, but I also ended up getting labeled the emotionally unstable chick too. Never outwardly, but people knew I was fucked up. People at my job knew I was fucked up too, and now in Miami, I just wanted to keep everything psychiatric behind me and in Atlanta."  
Eric nodded placing a soft hand on her shoulder, "I mean, I know you take meds but how bad was it?"  
She closed her eyes, trying not to think too much of it, "it was really bad Eric. Please don't freak out."  
Eric kept his hand on her shoulder and offered a comforting smile, "I promise."

She took a breath, trying to find the right words. "I was hospitalized 6 times."

Eric waited for her to continue. "Either people would see my arms at school and they forced me to go inpatient or I was too underweight and the forced me. But my senior year kind of is when things got bad."

"How bad?"  
She gazed out the window, "it's weird, because I find myself thinking about it a lot, even though I don't really remember much. I tried to kill myself at school. They found me unconscious."

They pulled into the parking lot of the downtown station, Eric looking at her worriedly and refusing to let her go without finishing the story.

He was trying to find which question to ask first, but JoJo started answering before he could articulate one, "I was in a really bad relationship, that piled on with school stress, piled on with people treating me like shit and being abandoned by my friends pushed me over. I didn't go to school with the intention to kill myself."

She shook her head thinking back to that day. "That day, I was sitting in 2nd period, I had just flunked my exam 1st period, and I just realized how minute and worthless my life was. How it wouldn't matter if I died. How nobody would care. How everyone would be happier. At this point I wrote my suicide note in class, and I was crying but no one noticed, not that I wanted them too. I had written a lot of suicide notes over that period leading up to it. Once class ended I walked over to my third period, math, and realized I just wasn't feeling it, so I told my teacher I needed to talk to a counselor about college stuff, and went to the bathroom. I was standing in the handicap stall, just pacing back and forth, crying and unsure what to do. I ended up tying a belt around my neck and latching it on to the railing next to the toilet. I remember bits and pieces, but I was in and out of consciousness. That was my first semester senior year, and I don't really remember much."

Before Eric had a chance to recover from his shock of the idea of JoJo being in a place where she thought suicide made sense, her phone rang. She answered it quickly, then hung up to look at Eric, "it's the psych lady, she wants to know when we'll be here."

Eric nodded turning off the car, still processing, "yeah, I'll- I mean let's head up there."

JoJo offered him a soft smile while getting out of the car, "it was a long time ago."

Eric shook his, "it was two years ago. You were just a kid, you're still just a kid." He wrapped her into a hug and kissed the top of her forehead, "You don't get a choice in this no more you're moving in with me."

Eric felt JoJo's chuckle echo through her fragile frame and into his bear hug grip. He let go of her and looked at her, "You getting too thin too."

She shrugged, "no such thing."

They found themselves on the 8th floor of the downtown PD precinct. JoJo had signed in and within only a few minutes a women came yelling her name.

"Can I go with her?" Eric asked worriedly looking at the lady.

"I'm sorry sir," she said shaking her head.

JoJo gave Eric a small smile, "Don't worry."

Eric sighed, and watched them through the closed door that separated the waiting room from a long hallway.

"So you're JoJo, right?" the lady asked, guiding her into a room. JoJo looked around, typical psychiatric office. You got your DBT books, your CBT books, all the DSM copies, all the workbooks and the 'why do kids start cutting books,' and of course, of course there's a feelings chart. Not to mention a connect 4 game sitting on the ladies desk. JoJo sat in the chair and eyed the psychologist. She was a tall brunette with eyes that were supposed to bring comfort but really only brought JoJo worry.

"Do you know why you're here?"

JoJo gave her an amusing 'what the hell do you think look.' "Yea," she said glancing around the room, "I think I have an idea."

The doctor wrote something down and JoJo laughed. "Look, I'm not tryna be rude, I've just been in these places hundreds of times and I just want to leave everything in the past where it belongs."

The doctor smiled, what was her name again? JoJo shook her head and did her best to make eye contact with her. "This is going to be quick okay?"  
JoJo smiled, again amused, "a quick psych eval?"

The doctor returned the smile, "from what I've read you seem like a nice girl with a bright future but had a few bumps along the way."  
JoJo quirked an eyebrow, urging for the doctor to go on because she wanted to know what information the doctor already had, and how much of her past she could leave undetected.

"What's your relationship with Officer Delko?"

This again? "What do you mean?"

Again a patient smile from a very patient doctor, "You and Officer Delko seem close."  
JoJo shook her head confused, "I'm not sure how this applies to the matter at hand."

"It's good to have a support system."

"Eric and I are friends. Good friends."

"Very good from what I see, he drove you all the way out here."

JoJo sighed, "because I use the metro and Horatio made the matter sound urgent. Please can we get to the issue at hand." JoJo really was trying to hide her frustration, and she was trying her best not be rude, but the situation at hand ate up all the patience she had.  
"Well, I only ask because he was staying over at your place the night your ex was killed."  
Again JoJo sighed, closing her eyes and counting to ten before speaking, "the case was solved, and had nothing to do with Eric or I. Can we please get to more pressing matters?"

"Your ex being killed a few yards from your house isn't important?"

"No." on the inside she was steaming but she was maintaining a calm demeanor. "What makes you think I have any psychiatric issues to begin with?" she asked.

"Do you mind pulling up your sleeves."

Okay, JoJo was done, and JoJo didn't like being rude to people, so she tried to be subtle with it, "Yea I do kind of mind."

The psychiatrist smiled, "I'm not here to judge you sweetheart."  
"Look, why don't you tell me what you know, alright?"

"Very well," she responded stiffly, flipping through a file, "we got a tip from another county employee that you have some interesting marks on both of your arms."

JoJo shook her head, her eyes looking to the ceiling, "and you think they're self inflicted."

"That's correct. So all we're going to do is go over some things and I'm going to ask some questions."  
JoJo shot her a sharp look, "so you can flag my file? So it can be used to say my work as a CSI is incompetent?"

"No. Let's start from the beginning. Tell me about you, in depth."

JoJo sighed, two could play at this game, "my name is JoJo Lyric. I was born June 15 1996 here in Miami. I was put in foster care when I was 10 because my mother was arrested for prostitution and drug trafficking. I was moved to Atlanta. I received enough credits to graduate high school early and enough credits to graduate college at 18. I came back to Miami after I completed an internship with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation."  
"Any past suicide attempts?"  
"Yes, my first semester senior year."  
"Any suicidal thoughts then after."  
"No," she lied. Here's the thing about these people, it's like an interrogation. You say the wrong thing, they'll twist your words and you'll be sent to a hospital. They want you to open up, they tell you you can trust them, but really, you can't. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the psychiatric court of Sigmund Freud.

"Any eating disorder history?"  
"No," lie number two.

"Can I see your arms?"

JoJo sighed and pulled up her sleeves with obvious annoyance. She'd never had a doctor gasp at her arms before, but I guess not many county psychologist met police officers with self harm issues.

"When did you start cutting?"  
"When I was 9"

"When was the last time you cut?"  
"Before I came to Miami," lie number three.

"Do you cut anywhere else?"  
"No" lie number four.

"How many psychiatric hospitalizations did you undergo?"  
"6"

"Any past physical or sexual trauma?"  
"None of your business."  
The doctor looked at her, then jotted something down, to which JoJo couldn't help but comment on, "that's not something you just ask someone, man."

The doctor sighed, again, "known diagnosis?"

"Diagnonsense," JoJo corrected with a grin, "Depression, anxiety, and PTSD."

"Are you a harm to yourself?"  
"No."  
"A harm to others?"

JoJo laughed extra hard, because that pissed her off. "No."

"If you had 3 wishes?" the doctor asked, at this point not looking up from the file.

"For the busses to run more frequently, for this interview to be over, and for people to stop trying to nitpick at my past. It gots old you know?"

The doctor smiled, closing the file and tossing down her pen, "it was a pleasure meeting you JoJo."

JoJo's eyebrows found their way to her hairline, "you too doctor...uh-?"

"Peterson."  
"Right, Peterson. Okay, well have a nice day. Don't read into things too hard."

With that, JoJo trolled down the hall, into the waiting room, and practically yanked Eric out, trying to get outside as quickly as possible.

"Damn what happened?" Eric asked.

JoJo shook her head, "it's such bull shit," she said getting into the car.

"What happened?" Eric asked again, starting the car and pulling out.

"Just asked stupid questions that don't matter." JoJo was obviously irritated.

Eric smiled at her, very happy it wasn't him being picked and prodded like one of Alexx's DB. "You keep your chin up?"

JoJo snorted, "yeah right next to the stick up her ass."

"It's gonna sort itself out, don't worry."

They were quiet for a moment, and then Eric spoke, "so when are you calling your landlord?"

JoJo cocked her head to the side, "you're serious."

Eric nodded, "it'll be good for both of us. My apartment hasn't been this clean in a long time."  
"I'm sure Ryan can do a hell of a better job than me."

Eric grinned, "yea, but he doesn't live with me."

JoJo rolled her eyes at him, "okay, fine. But where do I sleep?"

Eric started laughing, "where do you always sleep?"

"Okay," she said, "where do I sleep when Ryan comes over?"

"He'll sleep on the couch."

JoJo kept laughing, "alright fine. If you're serious about this then I'm in. I just needa find a storage place."

Eric smiled putting his arm around her shoulder, "good."

With Eric's arm around her, with Eric having her move in, with Eric telling her to keep her chin up, she finally felt whole. She finally felt safe. She finally, fucking finally, felt at home.

* * *

Back at the lab Stetler sat in Horatio's office like a hungry cat, his eyes watching the halls intentivly, searching for JoJo so he could take his chance to pounce. Horatio walked into his office. Stetler was getting on his very last nerve, but he wasn't about to give Ricks ego a boost by telling him that.

"So, wheres JoJo?" he asked, a smug and obnoxious grin plastered on his face.

"She should be back any minute. But regardless, I have to talk to the psychiatrist in private, so I recommend heading home Rick, and try coming by tomorrow to harass the poor girl."  
"She could compromise evidence!"  
"Anyone can compromise evidence, Rick. Mental health has nothing to do with the matter. I think, you're trying to use anything you can to bring down my lab." Horatio was getting tired of having to repeat the same old story.  
"The girl is 19 years old!"  
"Yes Rick, we've discussed that. But she is also more qualified than half of the people already working here. So do yourself a favor and find a less intrusive way to try and take down my lab."

Rick sighed, "I'll see you tomorrow, _lieutenant."_

"I count on it," Horatio commented while Rick was leaving the room. He passed by JoJo on the way out and offered a very obnoxious grin to both her and Eric while they walked into the H's office.

"How'd it go?" Horatio asked.

JoJo shrugged, "let's just say she doesn't like me."

"Yea, she kinda pulled what she did with Stetler," Eric said grinning at JoJo.

Horatio smiled, "well, the doctor should be calling me any moment."

Eric patted JoJo on the back then looked to Horatio, "we'll get back to Ryan and see what needs to be done."

Horatio smiled, "good, JoJo I'll come find you when I finish with the doctor."

The two walked out, and after a few moments Horatio received a phone call.

"Caine," he answered.

"Hi Horatio, this is Dr. Peterson regarding JoJo Lyric."

"Yes, Doctor, how is she."

There was a sigh before the doctor spoke, "from my evaluation I can tell you that any mental health issues either current or past does not impact her job."

"Very good," Horatio said.

"Yes well, she's quite an interesting one. But I have no worry that her job will have any impact based upon mental health."  
"Alright thank you so much doctor," and with that he hung up and picked up to call Rick, who was down the hall and back in his office within a matter of seconds.

"It seems to me, Rick, that you really have it out for this girl. She has been okay'd for work." He glanced at Stetler for a moment, "I'm sure you did this solely because you care for the girl," he said sarcastically.

Rick smiled at H, "just doing my job."

* * *

Eric and JoJo sat on his couch later that night, the TV on low because they needed to talk.

"hay más secretos" _No more secrets,_ Eric whispered at her smiling.

JoJo sighed and took off her jacket. "Hay mas secretos," she repeated quietly. Eric's smile diminished quickly when he saw her in just a black tank top. Scars trailed up and down her arms in all different directions ranging from colors of white to light pink to purple to blue.

She covered herself self consciously.

"No don't," Eric whispered, holding her arms out softly. He studied her arms, his fingers trailing over the bulging scars. He gazed into her eyes with concern and worry.

"JoJo," he whispered, cupping the side of her face with his hand.

She looked him deep in his eyes, her heart pounding. Eric bit his lips, then smiled at her softly, before pulling his lips to hers. It was soft, hardly a kiss. Eric pulled back from her and smiled, "I'm not going to let anyone hurt you, not even you."

She looked at him, her eyes filled with comfort.

"Come here," he whispered tugging at her hand and pulling her on top of him. She smiled at him softly and laid her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms loosely around her cupping the side of her face once more and pulled her lips inches from his own.

"Chin up," he whispered.

She smiled, "chin up."

He kissed her again, not as modestly as before, but it was not sexual in any means. It was comfort, it was his way of showing her how much he cared, how he was there for her. They broke apart, Eric running his hand along her braids. She tucked her head under his chin, and fell asleep to the sound of him breathing. Eric was going to keep her safe, and with Ryans help, try heal the pain she had lingering inside her.


	6. Family Dynamic

AN: So, when I originally wrote this series I had no real intent in publishing it, but I found this I wrote a while ago so I figured what the hell. Sorry if it sucks.

Ryan sat on the couch next to Eric with JoJo on the opposite side. They sat comfortably, JoJo's feet on Eric's lap, while Ryan had his head on Eric's shoulder. Eric just _loved_ the double attention.

Ryan sighed lifting his head off Eric, "I'm getting a drink you want something?"

Eric shook his head refusing to move his eyes from the TV.

"JoJo?" Ryan offered. She refused to lift her eyes from her knitting, "drugs?" she asked.

Ryan smiled, "cute, how about Diet Coke, that used to have drugs in it."

JoJo glanced to Ryan with a smile, then to Eric. Their little living arrangement was working out well, even though many people found it strange.

JoJo had officially moved in with Eric about a month ago. The only person fully aware of it was Ryan, and he didn't have a problem with it.

A gay man sleeping in the same bed as an asexual female? Ryan trusted Eric 100% with JoJo. The issue, though, was not Ryan. The issue was literally trying to convince everyone in the lab (mainly Natalia and Calleigh), that Eric and JoJo were not, in fact, a thing. And even though those rumors could easily be hushed if Eric and Ryan came out, that was not something anyone was really ready for.

JoJo did find it interesting though, they were supposed to be investigators after all, yet they misread the entire situation. Gaydar must not have been on the CSI exam.

Ryan returned and handed JoJo her Diet Coke. She set her knitting down for a moment to take a sip.

"What are you knitting?" Eric asked not moving eye contact from the TV.

JoJo smiled, "it's for my cat, it's getting old out."

Ryan and all his northern blood snorted, "the lowest this week is 50."

JoJo nodded, "I know, too cold for baby Pac here."

Ryan shook his head smiling, "there's so many things wrong with this."

"Starting with naming your cat after 2Pac," Eric threw in.

JoJo rolled her eyes, "ass holes the both of y'all," she said grinning and pointing a knitting needle between the two.

"Eric are you hungry?" Ryan asked, his head back on his chest.

Eric nodded, intently staring at the TV, "yea sure."

"Eric why are you so obsessed with this?" JoJo asked.

"It's the playoffs."

Ryan and JoJo quirked an eyebrow at him, "What do you want to eat Eric?" Ryan asked.

"Whatever you want."

Ryan sighed, "JoJo?"  
"I'm good fam."

Ryan gave her a look and Eric tore his gaze from the TV for a second to glance at her, "you haven't eaten since this morning, and you had a granola bar."

"I'll uh order pizza, and I'll get you a mini one person vegan one okay?" Ryan said. Eric was becoming very sensitive to JoJo's eating(or lack there of) patterns, and Ryan tried his best to do what he could to make mealtimes a tad less difficult.

JoJo grunted an okay, and kept her gaze on her knitting.

The game ended 5 minutes later with Eric screaming at LeBron for not scoring the winning basket. Eric groaned, "fuck."

JoJo eyed him and smiled, "you good now?"

Eric grinned, "you scream at the TV too."

"Yea but that's different. I scream at the TV cuz my show won't ship the two dudes I want to get together."

Eric cocked an eyebrow, glancing to Ryan as he came back to the couch, "alright it should be here in like 10 minutes."

JoJo moved her feet so Ryan could rest his head on Eric's lap while he ran his fingers through his hair. JoJo smiled at them, the way they bonded, they were so right together. No question to it.

Ryan closed his eyes while Eric continued to play with his hair, then looked to JoJo and mouthed a thank you.

She smiled and mouthed back, 'you're welcome.'

15 minutes later there was a knock on the door, but Ryan was passed out cold, so JoJo got up and got the pizza.

"Food," she yelled to them, closing the door and walking with the two pizza boxes to the living room. They ate together laughing and talking and bonding. Everything just fit together.

Finally around 2 am Eric dragged a very asleep Ryan and JoJo to bed. Eric slept in the middle, Ryan curled on his right side and JoJo on his left.

"This is what you wanted the whole time," JoJo once told Eric with a smile while both her and Ryan were cuddling up to him.

They had their own family dynamic that worked for the three of them. And it may seem strange to some on the outside, but for once everything fit and fell right in place. Even 2Pac the cat was able to squeeze in between the three of them on the bed. A peculiar yet wholesome living dynamic between three members(and a cat) that left all four of them feeling at home.


	7. Busted

JoJo woke up to the knocking on the front door. She opened her eyes, her mind still groggy from sleep, and trying to figure out who the hell would be at the door at this time of nigh-

Scratch that. She looked at the bedside clock and found that it was 8:43 am. But still, they weren't to be at work until 1, and from the looks of Ryan and Eric beside her, she figured she'd be the one to have to maneuver out of bed and to the door.

Ryan laid spooned up to Eric's back, who laid spooned up to JoJo's back. Ryan's fingers were laced with Eric's while his head rested in the crevice of Eric's neck, all the while Eric held JoJo protectively with one arm, while holding on to Ryan with the other.

JoJo sighed at the fact that the knocking wasn't going anywhere, and so as quickly and quietly as possible, she eased herself away from Eric's embrace, found her feet to the tile floor, folded her blanket as a cape around her, and made her way to the front door, with 2Pac the cat trailing close behind.

JoJo opened the door, and attempted to register the damned person who decided to wake her through a very sleep dazed gaze.

The cock of the eyebrow is what got her to register that Natalia was the perpetrator behind waking her.

"Hi Natalia," JoJo yawned.

JoJo was still too tired to notice the perplexed look that was spread on her face, though she figured it was there, considering no one was aware that JoJo actually _lived_ with Eric now.

"JoJo-" Natalia began, but JoJo involuntarily interrupted her with a yawn.

"Sorry," JoJo said with a smile, still attempting to blink away the sleep in her eyes.

"No uh what are you doing here?"

Another yawn followed by a quick apology, "shouldn't I be asking you that?"

JoJo's mind began to clear and now she could truly make out the dumbfounded look on Natalias face.

"Eric wasn't answering his phone, we called him to a crime scene. We know it's Ryans day off, and Horatio has you working in the lab today at 1."  
JoJo nodded, "right, I'll go uh-"  
"I can wait here," Natalia interrupted.

JoJo waved her off, "no, no it's fine," she said opening the door for her.

"Eric," JoJo yelled while wandering to the direction of the bedroom. Ryan met JoJo at the doorway, "he's in the bathroom what's wrong?" he asked, still attempting to wake up from his sleepy state and very obviously unaware of the other person in the room.

"Did you turn his phone off?" she asked him, walking towards the kitchen, her blanket still draped over her shoulders.

Ryan shook his head, "no I-" He stopped speaking when he registered Natalia standing in the living room, "Natalia?"

"Ryan," she responded with an amused smile across her face and her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Eric got called to a scene," JoJo said, her attention focused on making coffee.

"You want coffee Natalia?" She called out, but made her a cup before she could respond and then quietly demanded Ryan to go and get Eric.

JoJo was not a happy camper when she was still sleepy.

By the time Ryan came back with Eric half dressed in an undershirt and dress pants, JoJo had made four cups of coffee, and was sitting on the couch next to Natalia who drank her coffee happily and amused at the situation at hand.

"Natalia?" he asked, leaning on Ryan- who was currently in only an undershirt and boxers at the moment- while attempting to tug on his shoe.

JoJo handed Ryan a cup of coffee while Natalia stared at the them through the steam still highly entertained at the situation at hand.

"Your phone was off," she said, sipping her coffee then looking to JoJo, "shit this is good."

JoJo grinned, and Natalia finally went on to assess the situation. "JoJo I get why you're here with Eric, but? How does Ryan play in?"

JoJo couldn't help but chuckle and glance to Eric and Ryan then back to Natalia.

"You think Eric and I are uh-?" She asked laughing and pointing between her and Eric shaking her head.

Natalia nodded, staring at the three of them now thoroughly confused.

JoJo was getting a kick out of this and couldn't stop laughing, especially with the heated glare Eric gave her and the flushed cheeks that crept up on Ryan.

Natalia cocked an eyebrow, "anyone wanna clue me in here?"

JoJo sipped her coffee, trying her best to swallow her laughter while she stared at Eric, who at the moment was still half dressed and leaning on a very exposed Ryan.

They offered no response, so Natalia handed JoJo her emptied coffee cup and looked to her for answers.

"It's not my secret to tell, but you're a CSI, assess the scene, form a hypothesis, run with it, and come to a conclusion."

Natalia looked to her watch, "yea, and interrogation," she said glancing to Eric with a devilish grin, "come on, we need to get going."

Eric was still dazed from the entire situation that he forget he wasn't wearing a shirt, nor had on on his other shoe. He came to his senses and finished getting dressed quickly. JoJo handed him his coffee mug, "bye fam," she said not attempting to suppress the smile and amusement that was evident across her face.

"You're not allowed to answer to door anymore," he grunted, grabbing the coffee, and heading off with Natalia to undergo a very awkward interrogation.


	8. Cherishing

**AN: The word cherishing sounds really weird to me now i said it too many time whoops**

"I promise you don't want to do this," JoJo whispered. She was blindfolded, her hands were handcuffed and a gun was harshly held against her back.

It had started out as a normal day. Her, Eric, and Ryan had been called out to a scene in the Glades. 2 DB's that had to have been killed within the last 48 hours laid slain deep in the marshes with multiple stab wounds.

JoJo ended up finding the knife about half a mile from the scene. Everything within a mile radius had been secured as a crime scene by the arriving officers, but somehow they missed a masked man hiding in the marshes about 2 feet from the murder weapon.

The man was masked, that was all JoJo remembered. He placed a towel over her mouth that was soaked in chloroform and she blacked out.

Now she stood barefoot in a cold concreted building, blinded and cuffed with a gun on her back.

"You do what I say or you die," the man said, his voice cold yet shakey.

JoJo sighed, "whatchu want me to do?"

The man pushed her shoulders until she fell on the floor, the tip of the gun now resting on her temple.

"You spent time in Atlanta?"

"Yea, foster kid."

"You recognize this?" he asked pulling her blindfold down and holding a blue card that said breeze on it in.

She nodded, "it's a marta card, the bus pass." The breeze card had blood spatter on it. She looked around the room and saw 2 teenage girls bound and gagged about 10 feet in front of her. She could see the both of their chests rise and fall. They were still alive.

"Here," he said tossing her the card, which she caught with her hands that were cuffed in front of her. She waited for him to speak, but instead, he did an about face and shot both of the young girls.

He turned back to JoJo once he heard her phone start ringing. The man smirked, "give it here."  
"It's probably my team," she said, slowly pulling her phone out.

"Answer it. And put it on speaker," he said, the gun now pointed to her forehead.

She sighed, not realizing how her hands shook, and answered the phone.

"Hello?"  
"JoJo!" Eric's voice was frantic, and she could here Horatio take the phone from him. "JoJo where are you?"  
"Lieutenant Caine," the masked man said, his words eager.

"Yes who am I speaking with?" Horatio's voice was calm.

"Don't worry about me, you need to worry about your CSI."

"What about my CSI?"

"She will meet you at the crime lab in 20 minutes. You let her get what I need her to get or she dies."

Before Horatio had a chance to answer, the man hung up the phone and smashed it.

JoJo tried her best to hide her anxiety, "What am I doing?"

"Go get the bullets out of the two girls."

His gun was still pointed at her, but she'd looked down the barrel of a gun hundreds of times, she wasn't afraid to die, so the tone of her next statement took the perp by surprise. "I'll do what you want man, but you're gon needa uncuff me so I can get what you need done you feel?"

The man was taken aback, and cocked his gun, "crawl your ass over there, and get the bullets out."

She did as instructed, his gun pointed on her the whole time. She went to the first girl closest to her. She had a long, beautiful brazilian weave that was very well done. She'd just had her eyebrows and nails done as well. The young girl wasn't expecting to die.

The bullet was lodged in the back of her head.

"I need some tweezers or anything to get this out with," she said, focusing her attention to the wound.

The man laughed, "yea nice try, get it out with your fingers, or you end up like them."

She swallowed nervously and balanced herself on her knees. The bullet fractured her skull and fragmented, it would be rather difficult and time consuming to do this by hand.

She had small fingers though, so she moved aside the young girls weave and tried to use her fingers to scrape out the fragments.

No luck, her fingers were still too big and she wasn't strong enough to get the pieces out from the skull.

She looked to the man, making eye contact and refusing to look down the barrel of his gun. If she was going to die, she was going to die looking at him.

"Well?" he asked.

"The bullet fragmented, meaning that it split into a bunch of pieces in her head. The pieces are lodged in her skull and my fingers can't get them out. I need a tool, tweezers or a knife or-" she paused and looked over to where she left the breeze card, "hand me the breeze card."

"Here," he said bending down into one of the vics purses and tossing her a fresh one. "What are you gonna do?" he asked.

"These are plastic, but foldable plastic. I can bend it and it's strong enough to use as an edge to scrape out the fragments." She said working the card to get it into the necessary position. Once she did she was able to scrape out 10 different fragmented pieces of the bullet, but she damaged the wound track. She moved on to the second girl who was shot in the same place, but the bullet didn't fragment as much as the first one.

The bullet hit the cornrows that are hidden beneath the weave so it can be sewed in. The braids slowed it down, and she was able to get out three pieces.

"Now what?"

The man unloaded his current gun and tossed it to her along with some baby wipes and the casings while pulling out another gun from his jacket.

"Clean it, then put your prints on it. And do it right." he said.

She nodded and did as instructed.

"Now put the bullets fragments and casings in your bra and the gun in your waistband."

"Um-" she began but the man walked closer to her with the gun. "Okay okay jeez," she said putting the fragments in her bra and holding the gun, "look my pants sag really bad and the gun is gonna fall out of my pants."

The man growled at her, "Fine. Wait here."

She cocked an eyebrow and did as instructed, holding her hands up. The man walked away and came back with a vest. He walked over to her, "I'm undoing your cuffs, so you can put this on."

He undid her cuffs and helped her into a bulletproof vest.

"What's thi-?" She began, but once she felt the vest she knew exactly what it was. Her eyes went wide looking at masked man. She could feel the wires through the vest fabric, the weight was nothing like that of a bulletproof vest, and she could smell Potassium Chlorate.

He recuffed her then held up the bloody breeze card between his index and middle finger.

"Here's what you're going to do. You're going to take the evidence to your lab, you're going to print it with your prints, and document it so you go down for this. The marta card goes right here," he said putting it into a pocket on the front of the vest. He pulled a remote from his pocket, "now, if you take the breeze card out, the bomb will go off. There's also a camera in the front, if I see you doing something other than what I ask, my remote here will cause the bomb to go off. Comprenda?"

JoJo glared at him, "and after?"

The man laughed, "we'll see if you get that far."

JoJo nodded. It wasn't really hard for her to come to terms with the fact that her life might be over soon, but it was hard to come to terms with the fact that whatever grave she gets tossed in, Eric and Ryan and Calleigh and Horatio and Natalia and 2Pac the cat and all the other people in Miami she had grown close to would no longer be there. When you die you die, you don't remember it, you're just gone.

So she wasn't exactly sure how to feel about it. Because once she was gone, it's not like she would be missing anything, it's not like she would be going on without them. Once you're gone, you're gone. There's nothing left.

She used to find comfort in that, comfort in the idea that with one gunshot or too many pills all of this could be over in a split second. Like going to sleep but never waking up.

But now, but now she was having a difficult time wrapping her head around the fact that this could be her last day in Miami. Her last day alive on Earth. Before she was apathetic to it- the fact that once you're gone you're just gone, you have no recollection of anything and nothing to regret.

But now, but now she had things to miss. She had people she cared about.

The scary part isn't dying, the scary part is knowing you're about to die and realizing that- even though once everything goes black it's like going to sleep and not waking up- all the things you wanted to tell people, all the secrets you kept in, everything you never had the chance to say is all going to sleep with you, and will never wake up.

This was all she could think about during the silent car ride to the crime lab. She was going to die today, and not have the chance to say all the things she'd left unsaid.

Once they got to the lab the man parked and looked to her, "hold the gun in your hands and walk into the lab, tell them you need to work with evidence and that if you don't oblige that you and people within your proximity will go up in flames, and never come back down to Earth."

She nodded and got out of the car, holding her cuffed wrists up with the gun in her hands, and walked slowly into the lab.

"GUN!" An officer yelled once she opened the door. "Put it down now!"

"Wait-"

JoJo turned around and saw Horatio, "JoJo are you okay."

She smiled and sighed, her tone sarcastic, "yeah I'm great."

"Whats going on?"

"I need to get to the lab and get some evidence processed. If I don't, me and whoever is around me goes up."

"JoJo? JoJo!" It was Eric yelling this time and running over to her.

"Eric, I- everyone just stay outside three yards away from me, if anyone goes up it's me."  
"JoJo," Eric began but she cut her off, "Eric no." She took a deep breath, "look he has a camera, I need to do what he says, and I need everyone three yards from me."

"I'm not leaving you," Eric said.

"It's fine, but you're staying 9 feet away from me."

Eric licked his lips, "fine."

She took a deep breath, "I need to get to fingerprints and DNA. Everyone stay 9 feet from me."

She began her walk to the lab, Horatio and Eric trailing 9 feet from her.

"You're going to be okay JoJo," Eric yelled.

She needed to be strong, "don't worry about me."

Everyone stood outside of the lab while she processed the gun, the casing, and the bullet, making sure to lift her prints, and get her epithelials.

She sighed, she had all incriminating evidence pointing to her. Whoever this masked man was would walk until the bomb could be processed.

She bit her lip, "it's done." She wasn't sure who she was talking to, because no one could hear her. But the phone began to ring and she picked it up.

"Yea."  
"All the evidence is processed?" the man asked.

"Yea."

He was silent and she asked, "what now?"

There was a low chuckle, "any last words?"

JoJo bit her lip, and turned to where her family was standing. She opened her mouth, and all she could look at was Eric, whose eyes were watering even though he tried to hide it.

"Eric-" she began, her voice cracking. She shook her head then spoke to the phone, "I've spent my whole life alone, and now I have found people that care. A year ago you could have killed me and it wouldn't have mattered, but now I finally feel at home, please don't take that from me."

She wasn't sure if the man was listening, so she was shocked when he responded, "I will let you live, but if, and only if, you make sure your team doesn't find me."

"How can I trust you?"  
"You walked in there with the idea that you were going to die. I'm sure you can get yourself out of those handcuffs and get that vest off if you tried. Take care CSI JoJo." He hung up and all JoJo could hear was the deadline and her heavy breathing.

She looked back to Eric, then turned around, trying not to get her hopes up. She used a screwdriver from her kit to jimmie out of the cuffs, and very, very slowly took off the vest and set it on the table. She didn't realize she wasn't breathing until she backed herself out of the lab room and into Eric's arms. She turned to face him and buried her head into his chest, wrapping her arms around his middle(considering he's a foot taller than her) and tried not to cry and show weakness. Eric wrapped his arms around her protectively while rubbing her back.

Now all of the sudden, the sarcastic JoJo that everyone had grown to quickly turned back to the quiet, shy, and scared JoJo they had first met. She felt her body shake and tears flooded down her cheeks and pooled on Eric's shirt. She felt her knees go weak and Eric had to hold her up while she cried.

He whispered reassurances to her, toldl her that everything was okay while kissing the top of her head. His shirt was still trapped in her fists, and Horatio must have told him to take her home because now he picked her up while her small frame continued to shake and she continued to cry. Sometime between leaving the lab and going home JoJo fell asleep.

She opened her eyes and realised she was in the bedroom at home, the covers drawn up to her neck, and 2Pac the cat laying on her pillow keeping guard of her. She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to figure out the events that had occurred in the last 48 hours.

2Pac meowed at her. She sat up, scratched between his ears, and walked to the living room to find Eric. He was sitting on the couch with the TV on, but by the slump of his shoulders it looked like he fell asleep too.

JoJo smiled, glad she wasn't going to see him at The Crossroads any time soon. She walked to the couch, sat next to him and studied him. The way he slept with his mouth slightly opened, the way his eyelashes fell on his cheeks, the way he cradled his hands to his chest. She sighed, deciding that she had been through enough today and craved to be held. She curled herself up next to him, her face tucked into his chest. He instinctively put his arm around her, and after a few moments woke up.

"You're up," he said with a smile and kissing the crown of her head.

"Yea." She wasn't exactly sure what to say and how to say it, which is ironic because a few hours ago she was panicking about whether or not she could say everything she needed to before she went to The Crossroads.

"You okay?" Eric asked rubbing her back.

She didn't respond and instead kept her face in his chest and inhaled his scent, finding comfort in him. It took her a moment, but she managed to respond. "Not really."

"You don't need to be brave all the time, you know."

She smiled against his chest, "someone's gotta be brave."

"Yea, but its okay to let down your guard and let things out."

She wrapped her arms tightly around him and felt her body to shake, her breathing became rapid and she sobbed, Eric comforting her and holding her tightly. "Let it out"

Once her breathing calmed, she tore her head from his chest and met his gaze, "I've never been afraid to die because I had nothing to live for. But now I do. I have you and Ryan and the team and the thought of leaving y'all, even if death is just like going to sleep and never waking up, broke my heart.

Eric kissed the crown of her head, "you're apart of our family, we can't lose you."

She rested her head on his chest thinking. Thinking about how any one of these days she could not wake up, any one of these days she'd be down on Alexx's table, anyone of these fucking days could be her last and she never _really_ cherished everything around her. Never really lived life, never let herself fall in love with right person, or let herself go to parties and have fun, or even let herself be a teenager. She grew up a long time ago, and she never let herself run free.

"Eric," she gasped, but she wasn't sure if his name actually left her throat or if she was just thinking it.

Eric pulled her closer to him, "yea JoJo?"  
She sighed, trying to gather her words, "all my life I've been thinking of the ways I could die, how old I would be, if people would have cared, if it would hurt or not. All these years I've thought about what the end would be like, and through that, I forgot to live."

Eric held her close, "how do you want to live?"

"I- I guess I just want to be happy. And you and Ryan and everyone make me happy, but deep down in the center of my spine lay a ball of pain that has always been there and refuses to go away. It breaks my back some days and paralyzes me to the point I cant fucking breathe without my lungs hurting and I can't fucking walk without feeling absolutely numb and I can't smile without it feeling fake."

Eric just held her close, his fingers laced with hers.

"I just wanna live my life," she whispered. Then a smile crept onto her face and she looked to Eric, "if you say anything remotely related to TI I will kill you."

"You were in Atlanta for 5 years, you lived in his neighborhood-"  
"No," she said smiling and holding her finger up, "TI lived in Cascade, even though he reps Bankhead, that's south westside."

Eric held up his hands, "oh excuuuuse meee," he said laughing.

She smiled, cherishing what she had right now. Cherishing Eric, cherishing the little things. Even fucking cherishing TI and his snapback that somehow stays on the side of his head without falling off and totally disproving all laws of physics.

They heard the door start to open and saw Ryan standing there, soaking wet from the rain.

"Eric you took the car."

JoJo bursted out laughing, cherishing the look Ryan had while he stood dripping on the floor, attempting to look angry and hide the grin creeping up on his face.

Cherishing their family dynamic.

Cherishing their love for one another.

Cherishing life.


	9. Depressive Psychosis

She'd been in drive bys, abused, neglected, homeless, and practically left to die on the street at a young age. But none of that compared to how she was feeling now. A blanket caped over her shoulders while she sit crouched on the couch, the blue bags under her eyes contrasting her porcelain skin. She couldn't sleep. Everytime she closed her eyes it was like she was back at that warehouse: trapped and silenced.

Her body still shook at the slightest touch, her wrists were still bruised from the tightness of the handcuffs. She thought she could handle it, she thought she would be okay, but it took her being kidnapped to realize that she wasn't able to handle this on her own. Eric made things better, but it didn't heal the scars that she already had.

It'd been three days since the kidnapping, and Horatio ordered her to stay home. He had Eric with her the first two days, but they needed him back in the field. Horatio still instructed him to come back and check up on her every few hours.

She was strong, everyone knew that. You could have the strongest dam in the world, but when the water got too high it would flood the other side, and she'd spent so much time adding countless pounds of wood to the dam, that she'd forgotten how to swim.

And now she was drowning.

Her past, everything she pushed aside, everything she refused to deal with, all came flooding back and she couldn't fucking breathe.

She seemed okay at first, she wanted to go back to work right away, but of course Horatio wouldn't allow it. She needed time to rest and heal.

But now she lay with a blanket draped over her head, shoulders, and back, wrapped around her like a shield while she munched on a few saltine crackers and aimlessly flipped through the channels on the TV, not really watching anything.

She'd only left her position to go to the bathroom, and even doing that took will power.

It's hard learning how to swim when you can't even find the strength to breathe.

She sighed, 2Pac laying beside her, asleep.

She was fucking exhausted but she could handle sleep deprivation far better than that of the nightmares that follow the moment she closes her eyes.

But she was still on edge, both from being traumatized and being exhausted. She flinched at the slightest touch, the smallest noise. Even when 2Pac the cat meowed she jumped, but he understood what was going on. Cats could sense those kinds of things.

Her knees were bent against her chest, protecting her.

She couldn't stop shaking, she kept rocking herself back and forth, back and forth, as if that could her calm her down.

She refused to go to the hospital, there was absolutely no way in hell she was going to let that happen. But she was getting too thin and she was sleep deprived. Her body wasn't able to handle it.

Eric ended up coming back to check on her a few hours later, but he brought Alex and Horatio with him to check her out; Eric was certain she needed to go to Jackson Memorial, but he didn't want to risk sending her when this could be taken care of at home.

"How are you feeling JoJo?" Alexx asked sitting down next to her on the couch. She didn't respond, entirely withdrawn from the situation, continuing to rock back and forth. The night she came back, Eric thought she was going to be okay, she had been laughing with him and Ryan, but now it was like something inside her broke. She was entirely withdrawn from reality.

Alexx gave a worried look to both Eric and Horatio.

"JoJo, I'm just gonna check your pulse alright?" she said, moving her fingers to her right wrist. She jumped, which warranted worried looks from everyone in the room.

"Horatio did she get these bruises checked out?"

Horatio shook his head, "as far as we were concerned it was not necessary, do you think they need to be?"

Alexx shook her head, "no, but I think she should have gone to a hospital."

"She refused," Eric sighed, rubbing his forehead.

Alexx placed a hand on her shoulder, "JoJo sweetheart?" She flinched, her breathing becoming rapid and muscles clenching, holding her knees closer to her chest.

Alexx let out a soft sigh and smiled at her, "it's okay sweetheart." She got up off the couch, looked to Horatio and Eric, and waved them to follow her into the kitchen.

"What are you thinking Alexx?" Eric asked quietly.

She sighed, "we need to get her into a hospital now."

Both he and Horatio nodded.

"Eric, you're off for the next few days," Horatio said.

Eric nodded, "What hospital just Jackson?"

Alexx nodded, "yea, but she needs the psychiatric ward. Head into emergency and explain to them what happened."

Eric nodded, "alright, what should I bring for her?"

"Just some comfortable clothes, her toothbrush and stuff like that. Make sure to grab shoes with no laces as well."

He sighed, glancing back over to her.

"Eric don't worry about anything," Horatio said.

He smiled sadly, "thanks H."

"Horatio and I need to get back to the lab, but call us when everything gets situated," Alex said. Eric nodded, "alright guys."

Alexx gave him a soft smile and pulled him into a hug, "she's going to be okay, she's just traumatized."

"I hope you're right."

"She's in good hands with you, Eric," she said.

Eric smiled, "alright, I'll call you when everything is done."

Eric waved them both off, and proceeded to the bedroom to pack some of her things.

Alexx said comfortable clothes and shoes without laces. All JoJo had were special addition Jordans and some converse.

No wait, tacky rubber shoes from when she once worked in a restaurant, those will work. He packed up her duffle bag with her favorite shirts and sweats, hoping those will make her feel better. He grabbed her vegan toothpaste and recycled toothbrush, and ventured back to the living room. He sat next to her on the couch. She was still rocking back and forth, her eyes glued to the TV even though she was obviously not watching it.

"JoJo," Eric asked softly. No response.

He sighed, put his arm around her shoulder, but removed it quickly when she started shaking.

She was bad, really bad.

"Can you stand up?" he asked. Again, no response.

He sighed, tossing the duffle bag over his shoulder and grabbing her hand, trying to get her to stand up. She complied, but wouldn't make eye contact, or even acknowledge that Eric was even there.

He helped her into her rubber shoes, and guided her towards the door, her blanket still draped around her.

"We're going to get you some help okay?"

Again, no response. JoJo's body was here, but JoJo definitely was not. He helped her into the passenger seat, fastened her seatbelt, and started the car. He held her hand protectively while they drove.

Seeing her like this, so disconnected, broke Eric's heart. But he had to let his hurt mask his anger, because man, was he fucking pissed. Pissed at everyone that had screwed her over. Had hurt her, or put her in harm's way. She was just a fucking kid.

After about 20 minutes they arrived at the hospital. Eric helped her out of the car and guided her into the ER.

A small nurse gave off a bright smile, "hi, how can we help?"

"This JoJo, she's a CSI. She was recently kidnapped by a former criminal. It's a long story, but we thought she was going to be okay, and she was cleared to head home. But now, its like she isn't here. She won't talk and jumps at the slightest touch."

The nurse nodded, jotting down the information, "if you'll follow me I'll bring you two up to our psychiatric ward."

Eric nodded, his fingers laced with hers while they were guided into an elevator and up to the 11th floor.

"Jen," the nurse said, walking up to the front. "This is JoJo, she's undergone a rather traumatic event is severely dissociated."

"She also hasn't slept or eaten or done, well, anything."

The psych nurse nodded, "alright, we have a few open beds. How old is she?" she asked looking to Eric.  
"19."

"Okay," Jen said, "if you'll follow me we'll get her into a waiting room and have a doctor come to you shortly."

Eric nodded, pulling her and trailing behind Jen down a long hall with fluorescent lights and pale walls. They got to a room and sat down, there was a couch and a desk, "a doctor will be in momentarily," said Jen.

Eric nodded, "thanks." He sat JoJo down on the couch. She returned back into her ball form, wrapping her blanket tightly around her. Eric slid his arm around her trying to comfort her. She was tense, but eventually fell into the embrace. He rubbed her back softly, feeling her bones and making a reminder to mention it to the doctor once he came in.

She had her head on his chest, Eric's face resting on top of her braids, "everything's going to be okay, you're going to be okay."

She didn't respond, just rested there, closing herself off from reality, trying to pretend that nothing had happened. She was safe in Eric's arms, she knew that, but all the same she was at such a disconnect with reality, she barely knew who she was, barely registered where she was or what was going on around her.

Ten minutes passed and a tall doctor walked in. He had dark skin and wore a purple dress shirt tucked into black dress pants.

"JoJo Lyric? I'm Doctor Olu" he asked, walking in with a file folder and sitting down at the desk.

She didn't acknowledge him.

"She's been like this for the past three days. She won't talk, won't eat, won't sleep, its like she isn't here."

The doctor nodded, writing something down in her file, "does she have any past mental health issues?"

"She actually had to undergo a department psych eval-"

"Police department?" The doctor interrupted.

Eric nodded, "yea-"

"Lets start from the very beginning." The doctor was obviously confused about the situation. "She is how old?"

"19," Eric said.

"And she works for the police department?"

"Not exactly. She is a level one crime scene investigator, which doesn't require her to be a cop. But she works for the county."

"And she graduated college already?"  
"Yea. She was a foster kid and she was able to graduate high school early with college credits and graduated college early as well."

The doctor nodded, "Okay that makes more sense. Do you think you could have the police department fax it over to me?"

Eric nodded, "yea of course."

"So what mental health issues are you aware of?"

"I mean I'm not a doctor, but I know she has a lot of self inflicted scars on her arms. She told me a few years ago she tried to kill herself, and she has trouble sleeping. She doesn't eat very much, actually that's starting to worry me more than before. But other than that, I don't have a professional analysis."  
"My guess is she's in a depressive psychotic episode, brought on from the recent trauma. I was told she had been kidnapped?"

Eric nodded, "yea, we were at a scene and someone snatched her, strapped a bomb around her and made her come to the lab to dispose of evidence."

The doctor sighed, "well that will definitely bring something like this on, especially with a mental health past. Are you aware of any other traumas?"

"I mean she was a foster kid, she's had stuff happen to her, stuff that she won't even talk to me about," Eric paused looking to her then back to the doctor, "can she hear us?"

The doctor nodded, "in a way yes, but she isn't really registering the situation at hand or what is going on around her, it's a way for her conscious to protect itself."

Eric nodded, "How do we help her?"

"First, I'm going to have the nurse check her out so we can get her physically healthy, and depending on that, I'll prescribe her some medication that should help. Is she on any?"

Eric shrugged, "I know she was at one point, but the benefits aren't that good so she may have went off them."  
Doctor Olu nodded, "and that in itself may have worsened the onset."

Eric held her closer, "so what happens now?"

"The nurse is going to come get her vitals, and then we're going to move her into a bed. She'll be inpatient."

"And you're the doctor that will be helping her?"

"Yes. When she no longer needs to be inpatient, we recommend an outpatient program, but as an adult whether or not she attends or what further steps she takes is up to her."  
Eric nodded, "yea we'll figure it out, when can I see her?"

"From 7-9 PM."

He nodded, "she uh, she doesn't sleep well without me. Is there any way I can watch over her at night?"

The doctor shook his head, "no I'm sorry, but I'll give her sleeping meds that'll knock her right out."  
Eric understood and smiled, "thank you."

There was a knock on the door and a nurse entered with a gown, a scale, and a black bag with other medical paraphernalia.

She smiled brightly, "I'm going to need her to change into this."

Eric nodded, nudging JoJo, but she was still unresponsive.

The doctor sighed, "she's completely out of touch," he looked to the nurse, "weigh her without her shoes on and take her jacket off."

The nurse nodded, and Eric unzipped her hoodie and pulled off her shoes. She was left now in a black tank top and black sweats. Eric hadn't realized how bad it was getting until now, her shoulderblades popping out, and the vertebrae on her spine curving shadows along her neck and back.

He guided her over to the nurse, and she stepped on the scale, keeping her head straight and staring at the wall. There was a beep and both Eric and the nurse looked down. 84.3.

Eric gasped and the nurse nodded, "I figured. I'm gonna need to put her on tubes."

JoJo stepped off the scale and walked back to the couch like a zombie, curling up on her side and pulling her blanket around her tightly.

The nurse looked to Eric, "I'm sure it will be best if you hold her while I put the tube in."

Eric nodded, "what exactly does it do?"

"It's just a tube that goes through her nose down to her belly so we can feed her."

Eric walked over to JoJo, pulling her into their original embrace and kissing the crown of her head. She didn't flinch when the nurse inserted the tube, and it was quick and painless. The nurse smiled to Eric, "If you'll follow me I'll take her to her room."

Eric stood up, pulling JoJo along with him him, and held her while they followed the nurse. They ventured down a hallway adjacent to the one the interview room was on. If it weren't for the names on the doors along the halls, and the patients roaming around, you wouldn't have known you'd gone to a different section of the ward.

The nurse approached a desk in the center of where the single hallway split into two others, along with two doorless rooms beside the desk.

"Kaci, this is JoJo. She's having a psychotic episode, completely unresponsive."

Kaci nodded, "she on tubes?"

"yes, and once we get her situated she'll need an IV too."

"Who's her doctor?"  
"Olu, he should be back in a minute."

Kaci gave a soft smile to Eric then to JoJo, "JoJo can I see your wrist?" she asked holding a hospital band.

No response.

"She isn't here, she isn't talking to anyone. I don't think she can hear us."

Kaci smiled and handed Eric the bracelet, "you mind putting it on?"

Eric obliged and put the bracelet around her bruised wrists sighing sadly.

"You're going to be in here," she said, talking to JoJo and point to the room to the right of the desk. Eric pulled her to follow the nurse. There was another young women in the room. She was sitting on a bed that lay in the right corner of the room, while JoJo's was on the left.

She was small, maybe a few pounds more than JoJo. Her hair was purple and she wore a warm smile. She young, probably JoJo's age, and also was on tubes but looked far healthier than JoJo did right now. Eric hoped she would be like that soon.

"This is Sage," Kaci said.

"Hey."

Eric smiled at her, "this is JoJo. She's uh, not here right now, what's it called?"  
"Psychotic episode. She'll be fine once we get her on some meds and food in her system."

Eric nodded, and lightly pulled JoJo to the mattress and sat next to her. It was lumpy, and had cold worn sheets pulled over, stained with stories from other patients. At least she'd have her blanket though, that's something that would make her feel at home.

"What happens now?" Eric asked.

"Visiting hours are almost over. We're going to get her settled for the night. We can't release any information to you, only grant you visitors rights. She's an adult. She can't consent while shes in this state, but once she snaps out of the episode she can make the decision to release her medical records to you."

Eric nodded, wrapping his arm around her tightly, pulling her into a warm hug and kissing the crown of her forehead, "you're going to be okay," he whispered, "I'll come and see you every day okay? Everyone at the lab is really worried and we're all here for you."

He left two more kisses on the crown of her head then looked to the nurse, "please take care of her."

She nodded, "don't worry."

Eric stood up, taking one last look at JoJo and then the nurse, handing her JoJo's duffle bag, "one of our coworkers told me what I should bring for her," he said.

Kaci nodded, "thank you. You should go home and get some rest, she's going to be fine. Come back tomorrow, the doctor is prescribing her medication tonight so she'll hopefully become more responsive within the next 24 hours."

Eric sighed and smiled slightly, dropping a hand on her shoulder, "thank you."

Sage was the next one to speak, "don't worry, I'll take care of her too."

Eric kept his warm smile, "Sage right?" he asked looking to her.

"Yes, Sage here is an excellent room mate," Kaci said brightly then turned to Eric, "go home, she's in good hands."

Eric nodded, gave one last look to JoJo- she was in the exact same position Eric had left her in, her eyes were empty and she stared blankly at the wall in front of her- and walked out into the hall and back towards the ward exit.

"Have a nice night," said another nurse letting him out.

"Thanks," he replied sadly, entering the main hospital area and walking out to the warm Miami night. It would be so strange sleeping without her tonight.

She needed him to sleep, but now, realizing he wouldn't have her tonight, he needed her too. She was his best friend, and things felt empty. It hurt Eric, seeing her like that.

He tried his best to concentrate on driving, but he hated the fact that JoJo was in so much pain and he couldn't fix it. Once he returned to his apartment complex he recognized Ryan's car next to his parking space.

Eric smiled, Ryan knew he'd need him. He got out of the car and headed to his apartment, "Ryan?" he called.

"In the kitchen," he responded. Eric could smell pizza. "I ordered food, figured you wouldn't be in the mood to cook anything," Ryan said, setting two plates on the counter.

Eric smiled walking over to him and pulling him into a hug, "thanks."

Ryan passed Eric a beer, "how is she?"  
He sighed and shrugged, looking at the floor, "they said she has depressive psychosis, which I guess is just when you lose touch after a traumatic event."

"They say when she's gonna snap out of it?"

Eric nodded, taking a bite of his pizza, "yea, hopefully within the next 24 hours, once they get medicine in her system. And food, they put her on a tube to feed her through. We can go visit her tomorrow."

Ryan smiled softly and walked over to Eric, "Hey," he said softly and pulled Eric into a warm hug, "she's strong, she's gonna be fine, she just needed some help this time around."

Eric nodded against Ryan's shoulder, and held onto him tightly, "you wanna come with me tomorrow?"  
"Yea of course. But tonight, try not to worry okay? She's better there than here. Let's eat some food and do whatever to take your mind off things."

Eric nodded, obviously knowing that Ryan was right, but his protective instinct wasn't going away, and JoJo was going to be at the front of his mind until she was better.

Ryan smiled at Eric, wrapped his arms around his waist, and kissed him softly. Eric kissed him back, bringing his left arm around the smaller man's neck, while his right hand stroked his cheek.

Ryan pulled away first, running a hand through Eric's hair, "what is it you always tell her? Chin up?"

Eric laughed a little, "yea chin up."

"Well you need to keep your chin up okay? For the both of you."

Eric sighed and smiled, pulling Ryan back into a hug, "thank you. For being here, for everything."

Ryan ran his fingers down Eric's back, "it's what I'm here for."  
Eric pulled Ryan in for a tighter embrace, needing someone to hold him, needing someone to touch him. Needing to not be alone.

Eric was tired, and Ryan knew that. He put away the pizza for sometime tomorrow, and led Eric to bed, where he held him, their fingers laced together while Ryan ran his other hand through his hair until Eric drifted off to sleep.

He kissed the crown of Eric's head when he felt himself begin to succumb to much needed sleep, "it's all going to be okay," he murmured while he fell down the pathway to sleep.


End file.
